


The Melancholy of Kokoro Tsurumaki

by krizzlybear



Series: The Melancholy of Kokoro Tsurumaki [1]
Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Kanon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, F/F, Gen, Homage to the Haruhi Suzumiya Series, Misaki's Harem, Yare Yare
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2020-09-23 15:41:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 40,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20342554
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/krizzlybear/pseuds/krizzlybear
Summary: Misaki Okusawa, an average high schooler, longs to live a normal uneventful life. Despite giving up on childhood beliefs in the supernatural, she meets the happy-go-lucky Kokoro Tsurumaki, a beautiful and enigmatic girl who wishes to fill the world with smiles...and to encounter aliens, time travelers, and espers in the process! As Kokoro ponders how to accomplish this, Misaki inspires Kokoro to start her own band. As a result, Hello, Happy World! is formed, a plucky group of musicians who are quite special in their own right...





	1. Chapter 1

If you were to ask me whether or not I believe in Santa Claus, I would tell you that it is a pointless question and a waste of your time. Of course I believed in Santa Claus as a kid, but like almost everyone else I know, I eventually stopped believing him at one point or another. You could say that I simply grew up.

I eventually realized that the Santa at the shopping centre downtown was just a jolly man in a disguise. I'm pretty sure that the other kids that passed him on the street picked up on the little things that just seemed off, and came to the conclusion that the person in that suit wasn't him. Not only that, but Santa himself wasn't real either.

I can't really say for sure that I was more or less skeptical at that age compared to my friends and classmates, but it just made sense to me the more I spent time thinking about it. I started thinking about the implausibility of things like how he could see and hear everything that kids do, and that he would know every single boy and girl perfectly, to the point where he could say whether we were good or bad during a given year. I was told that Santa has his elves to help him make the toys and keep a list, but given just how many children existed in the world, he would need so many elves that it wasn't actually possible to maintain a workforce of that size and still somehow manage to remain hidden from everyone for 364 days in the year.

No, it was only a matter of time that the very concept of Santa Claus was absurd to me, as was the concept of other famous characters in cartoons and movies not being real either. I remember wanting to become a magical girl when I watched PreCure on television every Sunday morning. I wanted to do all of those things, but again, the more I thought about it, the more troublesome it became to keep up appearances, let alone doing all of the necessary things to keep one's magical identity a secret and to hide from the world.

I will admit, however, that my childhood experiences believing in those things: believing in Santa Claus, magical girls, time travelers, sliders, aliens, espers, and evil organizations, all of that made me happy, and that my belief in them would fill my life with happy memories making me the person that I am today. If I could, I'd give every single one of them my gratitude for helping me become a logical, but still average high school girl, living the average high school life. Maybe I'd find a boyfriend. Or a girlfriend. Who knows? The heart wants what it wants.

Anyway, I think that if there really was someone like that out there, who was secretly a superhero with strange powers, suddenly coming into my life, maybe transferring to my homeroom class, and if I had suddenly got caught in their wacky adventures, I would get to do all of the things that I thought was wonderful and fun when I was a kid.

They’d grab my hand, telling me, "Misaki, an evil gang has showed up in the city and is threatening to take over Japan! I need your help to transform into [superhero identity redacted] so I can save the city! Will you help me?"

Or instead, they'd take me to their underground lair where they meet with a secret society of other phenomenal people, agents who gather and conspire to keep all of the crazy mysteries under wraps, mysteries that, if discovered by human beings, would flip the very laws of the universe on its head and sending society into an absolute uproar and life as we know it would change forever.

Maybe I discover a special suit, you know? Like, one that has special superpowers if I put it on. But I can't. It belongs to someone else, and my knowing their existence means that I'm suddenly a part of their life and I have to use my wits and courage to support them and help save the world despite having no super powers whatsoever. I'd be the cool girl in the chair in front of the computer, feeding information to our hero, telling them where to go, triangulating coordinates and hacking super secret mainframes to take down the mob. I'd be something super interesting!

But I'm not that. I never was and I never will be. I waited for the entirety of elementary and middle school for something to happen. I didn't meet any fairies who told me that I had latent powers to transform into a magical girl. I didn't even meet any magical girls to boot. I didn't get sent back in time to save my past self from evildoers. I didn't wake up and suddenly learned how to read people's minds, or had people read my mind (not that I know of, anyway!). I inevitably accepted that the laws of physics that govern the entire world were already set in place, and there was absolutely nothing else to worry about. I graduated from middle school and entered Hanasakigawa Girls' School, knowing that absolutely nothing earth shattering whatsoever would ever happen to me.

And then I met Kokoro Tsurumaki.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misaki Meets Kokoro Tsurumaki, and they decide to start a band.

The first thing I realized when I had successfully been admitted to Hanasakigawa Girls' School was that, well, it was full of girls. I had attended a local public middle school, and it was co-ed. Not that there was anything wrong with having a middle school life spent with an approximate 50-50 split between boys and girls, but there was a sort of calmness that came over me, the idea that I didn't have to worry too much about the tedium of dealing with romance. I'd learned first-hand in anime and manga that the majority of drama that existed in a girl's life came in high school in the form of an explosive, high stakes romance. Of course, I knew that I myself didn't have any traumatic past to speak of, and should I end up falling for someone or getting into a relationship, nothing from my past whatsoever could come up and serve as a complication or plot point to the development of that relationship. I thought about this for a moment, and accepted that dealing with romance was very much a fool's errand. You'd get your heart broken one way or another and you'd spend more time feeling lonely or depressed or jealous, more than actually being happy and feeling all of the other good parts that one would come to expect from a relationship. If the option were presented to me, I would be more flustered about making the decision itself than actually navigating the pitfalls of a relationship. So none for me for now, thanks. An all-girl's school is perfectly fine for what I was looking for in a high school life.

As such, as the first day of school finally came, I had entered Hanasakigawa and participated in their traditional commencement ceremony, which was held in a very cozy gym. The mood was light and agreeable, and the girls who I saw in the crowd, the ones who would eventually become my classmates, were just as comfortable as I was. We had taken in the principal's speech, that the three years I'll spend here would be filled with opportunities and choices that would determine who I become when I grow up. Since it was an all-girl's school, there were very few people who I could find that I remembered from middle school. I was a little bit worried that I wouldn't make that many friends, but I suddenly realized that there were a number of other girls here who were in the same position that I was in, so really, it would only be a matter of time before I'd naturally gravitate towards other girls in this school who I could hang out with.

The fact that Hanasakigawa was an all-girls school made it quite apparent that there wasn't really much variation in the school uniform. Since there wasn't a boy's uniform, all they had was the girl's version, and the light brown fabric for the one-piece sailor outfit would fail to make anyone stand out. Even our principal, who wore her hair up in a bun and had glasses on, looked a lot older than she probably was, but the fact that she had a way with words that kept everyone paying attention, it was clear that she had some sort of charisma that belied her apparent age. The more I thought about this, the more I'd miss parts of the ceremony and as soon as I had realized, the teachers were already directing everyone back to their classes. I was assigned to class A, with a bunch of other girls who, upon closer inspection, I was not familiar with. It was clear from the get-go that I'd have to make friends myself.

Hinata, our twenty-something homeroom teacher, took the podium with a nervous smile on her face, though it had a certain appeal to it. It used to be that punchline for most teachers in gag manga set in a high school was that by the time they hit the age of 25, it was over for them and it would be impossible for them to find a husband and raise a family. Over time, this was obviously not the case, with news reports of women delaying starting a family in favor of furthering their careers, even to the point of avoiding marriage and family altogether. It was something that crossed my mind myself, but I didn't really care too much about where I would end up. All that mattered here was that Hinata-sensei was no joke, and that she would be easy to get along with. And once again, having thought about all of this, I had missed the gist of her speech, only catching the end where she instructed everyone to introduce themselves.

I suppose I could spare you the details of what would happen next, since the idea of self-introductions is impractically boring in real life, but for the sake of media enthusiasts and the genre-savvy, it's pretty clear that this is indeed one of the more important things that happened to me in my life so far, if not the most important thing.

Suffice to say, the other girls in the class, one by one, stood up and gave their name, the middle school that they attended, and then they talked about something unique about themselves, whether it was a favourite food, or a part time job that they were already doing. Apparently, the rules against students at the school having a part-time job was so difficult to enforce that nobody really minded. With rising tuition costs, it was also becoming clear that more teenagers had to take up jobs in order to help their families pay for the expensive universities that they'd eventually apply to. And (yes, am I boring you yet with this repetition?) when I had gone so far into this line of thinking, it was my turn to speak in front of the class. Oops, what was I going to say?

I had to think fast, but it quickly dawned on me that there was nothing special about me at all that was worth mentioning in a self-introduction. I didn't have a job (yet) or a boyfriend or girlfriend or any interests whatsoever, so I simply said "Oh, hello. My name is Misaki Okusawa, and I'm from this middle school…I guess that's it, hope to get to know everyone better…" And I sat. It wasn't really nerve-wracking, but it became clear to me that I wasn't really cut out for public speaking. Could you imagine me being in front of a crowd and talking or even performing in something like a play on stage? I wouldn't even dream of doing that, not in a million years, not even if you paid me.

Once I settled back into my seat, I sighed in relief, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the rest of the introductions would be over, but then the person behind me stood up – and yes, this is the most important part here, since I would remember this for probably the rest of my life and others as well.

"Can I go yet? Alright~ Here we go!"

Already something was amiss, as if she were trying to brace us for a wave of whatever it was that was going to come next. Twisting around to look behind me, I saw the source of limitless energy behind the voice that was talking.

"Heyya~! I'm Kokoro Tsurumaki, from Hanasakigawa Middle School! How is everyone? If you're doing well, then that's amazing! If you're not, then that’s okay too! Whatever you're feeling, you've been invited to join me on my search for something fun and exciting! I want to fill the world with happiness, and if you think you have what it takes to do this, come join me. That's about it. Over!~!"

My eyes widened.

Behind me was a girl with long, flowing blond hair styled in a princess cut, her bangs perfectly framing her bright smile, and she stood tall and confident, her chest puffed out, staring down the rest of the class with curious eyes brimmed with lush thick eyelashes, her glossy lips curved upwards and revealed her pearly white teeth.

I was taken aback by Kokoro's figure. She was easily one of the most beautiful girls I've encountered in this school so far.

Kokoro scanned the classroom, as if she were searching for someone in a game of hide and seek, before finally settling her gaze in front of her and right at me, who was probably making some awkwardly contorted facial expression due to the sheer surprise of everything that happened. She sat down without a word after a long silence, not letting it hang any further than it needed to.

Is this girl for real?

The rest of the girls broke into a fit of murmuring and gossip, trying to figure out how to respond to Kokoro's introduction. How could anyone possibly take that introduction seriously?

For all of her limitless energy and smile that could settle most wars, Kokoro looked earnest in everything she said and did. As happy as she was, she was always genuine about what she felt.

It took some time to get used to, but I eventually came to learn that this was her default mode, and she was like this practically 24/7.

Our homeroom teacher Hinata eventually hushed the chatter in the room, and immediately gestured the next student to make her introduction, and the moment had passed instantly, almost as if it had never happened at all.

But of course, it happened. And I was right in the centre of it.

\---

Following her mindblowing self-introduction (a distant but unforgettable memory), Kokoro remained relatively low-key for the rest of the week, almost as if she was trying to pass as a normal high school girl.

You could say it was like the moment of eerie silence in a slasher flick before the murderer would pop up and kill you.

Well, Kokoro didn't really kill anyone, nor was she even causing trouble of any kind, but someone who had her kind of personality would have stuck out for sure in middle school. While it was quite possible that there was at least one person in this class who knew her from before, I was hoping that she would be eager to share some of that gossip with the rest of the class, myself included. It was a very thin possibility, since this was an all-girls school, so the likelihood of people knowing others from before was a lot lower than your typical district high school, but I wasn't going to let that get the best of me.

I asked around as much as I could, learning rather quickly that Kokoro was an easy conversation starter that flowed naturally into topics like where everyone else was from, and so it came to pass for the next few days that I was able to at least latch on to a group of girls to socialize with, all because I was curious about Kokoro. However, she still had my interest nonetheless, and I was determined to figure out more despite not being able to get anything from anyone else. And here, I'm afraid, is where I made my biggest mistake, or at least, made a decision that would stay with me until the end of time. Against my better judgment, I approached Kokoro Tsurumaki and tried to have a conversation with her.

I could feel my highschool life just gradually tumble down like a Jenga tower, and Kokoro was the brick that I tried to pull out.

She just sat there, going over a previous day's homework, minding her own business. At this point, if no one knew about what she said the other day, it would seem like she was actually a drop-dead cutie; and even if she had kept to herself, she could even pass off as the strong, silent type, the mysterious idol that everyone wants to get closer to, but cooly keeps her distance.

But that was obviously not the case, so I had to ask about it.

"Hey," I said, as I nervously turned behind me with the same unnaturally contorted look on my face. "That thing you said earlier, the stuff about filling the world with happiness. Did you really mean that?"

She looked up from her homework and flashed a million-dollar smile. Kokoro turned to me and grinned.

"Oh, earlier from what?"

"Well, during the self-introductions. Were you being serious?"

"Of course, I was being serious."

"So, you're trying to look for something fun?"

"Yes I am. Are you?"

"No, but…"

"No, but what?"

"Ah, nevermind."

"If you wish to join me, then I'd be super excited!"

In the name of everything that is good and holy, I swore that she was trying to trick me into doing something really dumb with her, like she was trying to recruit for a pyramid scheme or a cult, I couldn't help but apologize for wasting her time. Once I ran out of things to say, Kokoro just returned to whatever homework she was doing, but not before flashing me a playful grin, like she was a preschool kid waiting to go home.

Despite not accepting her invitation, it felt like she was the one who was leaving me high and dry, and although I was brazenly aware that the entire class was staring at me, I was saved by the bell, and our homeroom teacher Hinata had come in to begin lessons for the day.

I quickly turned around to face our teacher at the front of the class, and I confirmed my suspicion that the rest of the class was hanging on to our conversation, word for word. For all of the effort that I could muster in trying to figure out Kokoro, I was just as confused as everyone else. One of the girls even tossed me a note while the teacher wasn't looking, it said "keep trying! we've got your back!"

I felt a little bit uncomfortable, having realized that I had become the official Kokoro whisperer. Since the scarce few who had gone to middle school with her didn’t have the courage to come out with all of the details, the responsibility fell on me to figure her out.

\---

Yep. Given that my first conversation with Kokoro turned out to be like something out of Barney the Dinosaur, I had to deeply consider whether it was worth continuing talking to her. I technically broke the ice, but given her sunny demeanour, it was like there wasn’t any ice to be broken to begin with. It was like talking to a kiddie pool. By the end of the week, I didn't have any opportunity to confirm this impression that I had of her.

And yet, there were a few other girls in the class who hadn't yet fully understood the extent of Kokoro's confusing void of happiness, or didn't have that impression of her to begin with. These girls would walk up to Kokoro's desk, where the girl in question was always in a cheerful mood, eyes beaming and perfect Colgate teeth, and try to talk to her as if she were one of the gang.

Kokoro was always by her lonesome, but you couldn't tell from her demeanour that she hadn't yet made any friends, and the girls who came by wanted to bring her into their group as if she was some island to be colonized. I'm aware of the phrase the more the merrier, but these girls did not take into account that she was an entire Christmas choir of merriment, happier than a whole group of carolers combined. She'd be too much.

"Did you hear Glitter*Green's new song? The one that they played at the end of their last show?"

"Not really."

"What–? Why not–?"

"Because I've never heard of them before! Are they any fun?"

"Well, yeah! You should check out their shows. They're all upperclassmen from our school, and some of them are on the student council or something, but they're in a band and super popular in Hanasakigawa. I could message you on LINE when their next show gets announced, if you want to check them out."

"Wonderful! Ah, but I don't have a phone."

So close! You could see the exact moment where the girls' hopes become shattered, but Kokoro's sunny disposition and facial expression and tone of voice hadn't changed whatsoever, and it left an air of expectation on the other end for the girls, who backed away as if they couldn't really muster a response. All they could say was "Oh…Well, you know…" before retreating back to their desks. What do you say to a girl that doesn't even have her own cell phone? "Did we say something strange?"

Rest assured, you didn't. A girl like Kokoro probably wouldn't be interested in bands or music, anyway.

I've always eaten alone during lunch, but I guess at a school like Hanasakigawa, everyone is so nice and friendly and there's so many girls who want to talk to you, and whether or not their intentions are genuine or not, the company is always welcome at first. So, when the time came for everyone to take a break from classes and eat, I gravitated to the desks of Ichigaya and Toyama, two girls who had already seemed to be friends with each other. I didn't want to intrude or be a third wheel, but in time I was hanging out and conversing with them at lunch.

It was during one of these lunchtime breaks that the topic of Kokoro Tsurumaki had reared its ugly head.

"It was you who talked to Tsurumaki the other day, right?" Ichigaya had seemingly brought up out of nowhere. "She probably wore you out with her relentless positivity."

Relentless doesn't even begin to describe it.

Ichigaya brought half of her sandwich up to her mouth and politely chewed on a bite, and then another.

"If you're trying to figure out her mystery, there isn't much to figure out, really. What you see is what you get with Tsurumaki."

She mentioned during her introduction that she had gone to Hanasakigawa during middle school, and apparently, Kokoro was also in the same cohort as her. If there was anyone who could give any insight about Kokoro as a person, it was Ichigaya.

"She's probably the most energetic girl you'll ever meet. I thought she would settle down in high school, at least a little bit, but it seems that she's gotten even more gung-ho about things she gets interested in. You heard what she said during her introduction, right?"

"Oh, that thing about filling the world with happiness!" Toyama responded. She was absorbed in her own lunch of leftover fried meat, but immediately chimed in upon mention of Kokoro.

"Yeah. She's always doing things that she thinks are fun and what people would enjoy, but what she thinks is fun can sometimes cause problems for others. The most famous incident would probably be the skywriting incident on school grounds."

"Wait, what?"

"You know about those planes that fly really high and draw pictures using some kind of smoke? I don't know the name of the machine, but apparently someone flew one of those planes directly above Hanajo and drew a bunch of shapes and symbols in the sky."

Toyama furrowed her brow. Perhaps she had heard of this story before, or something similar to it.

"It was incredible! Everyone had run out from class to see the plane draw those weird circles and squares. Even I snuck out to the roof with some of the other girls in class to get a better look, but I still couldn't figure out what it was."

"Oh, I think I remember hearing about that from my parents," Toyama said. "Wasn't it in the newspaper or something? There were videos posted all over the Internet about it too, and my sister couldn't stop talking about it. It looked like a summoning circle or something from a video game." I didn't remember hearing about any of this.

"Bingo. There were a bunch of viral videos all over. You could probably look it up on your phone. But the wildest thing was what happened right after."

"Was Tsurumaki flying the plane?"

"I don't know if it was her or not, but she was clearly in the plane, because immediately afterwards, she jumped right out of it. She fell for a good few seconds and it was almost as if she was going to plummet to her doom, but she was able to set off a parachute and she landed right in the middle of the school grounds, right before class, and right in front of the principal and a few of the other teachers. They escorted her to the office and began to question her."

"Why would she do something like that?"

"I'm not sure."

Ichigaya was confused, and even a little gloomy about it, as if she really wanted to know more about what happened.

"As it turns out, she's the heir to the Tsurumaki Corporation, and her family is wealthy beyond anyone's wildest dreams. There was a bunch of mysterious women in black suits that showed up to school later, and right after that the staff never talked about the incident again. Kokoro never gave a reason why she did it or what she was making, but she would respond to people's questions with her own, asking them if what she did made them smile."

The entire thing seemed so farfetched to me, but all I could think about when Ichigaya mentioned the story was Kokoro Tsurumaki soaring through the air, flying through the myriad shapes and symbols that she had just drawn. I could see the look of earnest satisfaction on her face that she was truly enjoying what she did, or what she was trying to do. Maybe she was trying to write an invitation for aliens to come to earth and finally take her away to Planet Happy. If she was really trying to spread happiness around the world, I suppose getting aliens to come to Earth would be her initial plan. No wait, why am I thinking about this in such detail? My imagination is getting the better of me.

Whatever the reason, Kokoro Tsurumaki was probably genuinely trying to make people smile, whether that involved getting aliens to come to earth or to have a video go viral for everyone to watch for years to come. From the way Ichigaya described it, it seemed like Kokoro was successful to some extent, but was that really not enough for her? How far would she go just to achieve her goals?

Just thinking about it made my stomach growl, so I ate a bit more.

"She did a lot of other things, too."

Ichigaya finished the other half of her sandwich, then closed her lunch container.

"One time, when we went to class for homeroom, the entire room was decorated in streamers and balloon animals and a bunch of other things. She painted a cartoonish mural on the wall of the outside of the school depicting animals from the zoo. She had a bunch of capes and just started giving them to everyone to wear so that they could feel like superheroes. She was really weird."

To an outsider, it would seem like we were gossiping about Kokoro Tsurumaki, but in fairness, it seemed like Ichigaya spoke as kindly about Kokoro as she could. She was a nice girl, Ichigaya, that is, and while she was the kind that would put up airs about being a role-model in our grade, the truth was that she kept everyone at arm's length, save for Toyama. But she wouldn't make up awful rumors about Kokoro, nor would anyone else at school. Kokoro was also a very nice girl, and her only fault was being completely out of this world with her weirdness. Had she been around to listen in on our conversations, she might have followed up with questions asking whether her antics were making us smile or not. I'm not sure if anyone would have the heart to answer her truthfully either way.

"In spite of everything," Ichigaya continued, "she remains one of the most popular girls in school. She's completely gorgeous, has a great figure, and she's good at sports and will probably do better on her midterms than most of us in class. You could probably tell she was rich just from how beautiful she is, but if you hadn't heard of her before, you wouldn't expect a girl like Kokoro to do all of the weird things she's done."

"Do you think she has a boyfriend?" Toyama asked, "Or a girlfriend maybe?" Toyama's eyes beamed with a sense of reverence for Tsurumaki, though I think it's because Toyama's also pretty energetic and bubbly, though not to the extent that Tsurumaki was.

"Nobody knows, though a good number of girls confessed to Kokoro in middle school. From what I heard, she would turn them all down in a way that made them happier after the fact, instead of being depressed from being turned down. 'Don't cry. Smile because you were able to express your true feelings! I know you'll find happiness someday!' It's like getting rejected by your own personal cheerleader. Seriously!"

Ichigaya must have been referring to one of her own personal experiences, as she hurriedly switched to finishing her drink before getting into further detail. Neither Toyama or myself brought it up again.

"The real mystery behind Kokoro Tsurumaki is the suits, though. These folks dressed in black with sunglasses, they look like they're secret agents or something, and they work directly for the Tsurumaki family. Any time a bully at school had a problem with Kokoro and planned to pick on her, the suits would step in from behind the scenes and then after a while there wouldn't be a problem anymore. I don't know if the bully was getting paid off to stay away from her or if they were scared away, but it was pretty clear early on that nobody could lay a finger on her. You'd think it would make Kokoro really scary, but she's so nice that nobody had any reason to bully her to begin with."

I couldn't tell if Ichigaya was trying to warn me, but I don't think there was anything to warn about. I wasn't interested in bullying in or confessing to Kokoro Tsurumaki.

"In spite of all of that, I still think the weirdest girl in school is probably the one over there. Eve Wakamiya."

Ichigaya nodded her head in the direction of a group of girls standing around in a circle and chatting away. Sitting in the desk right in the middle of the circle wearing a cover girl smile was Eve Wakamiya.

"You mean the foreign student? What's so weird about her, Arisa?" Toyama asked.

"Of course, you wouldn't find anything wrong with her. Shouldn't it be obvious though? She's a huge samurai nerd. On the outside she looks like a beautiful model, which she is, by the way. But the moment she opens her mouth, it's 'bushido' this or 'bushido' that. It's very hard to get a read on her!"

"Right? She's so cute and pretty and smart, she's talented at everything, it's not fair!"

"And you can tell that she's a really nice person, too. She's in a bunch of clubs, like the kendo club and the tea ceremony club. Name one club that deals with anything remotely close to Japanese culture, and she's in it."

It never really occurred to me that Wakamiya would be on the same level of weird as Tsurumaki, but it was true, everything that Ichigaya said. She was definitely gorgeous, since she was, in fact, a model. But the samurai stuff was definitely out of left field, and if you had to place her right next to Kokoro Tsurumaki, the two would stand out in their weirdness in equally noticeable but distinct ways.

But Wakamiya though, I could see what Toyama (and Ichigaya, for that matter) saw in her, and if you had to ask me, she would definitely be the kind of girl that I would confess to in middle school if I went through the trouble of being interested in relationships, but in reality, there was no harm in finding people attractive. And she was definitely attractive. She's clearly mastered that smile that only trained model could whip out on command in front of a rolling camera. And where Kokoro was the kind of person who was very difficult to approach because of her weirdness, Wakamiya had a much more grounded personality at school, probably due to her pledge to abide by the bushido code; she acted with an honourable air, after all. She cared about every single person in the class, and she would go to war for each one of us. She’ll probably become class president, due to how she could comfortably talk to everyone, even Kokoro Tsurumaki. She was the only girl in our class who was unfazed by Kokoro's boundless positivity, and could talk to her while standing on the same level as her. Furthermore, it was clear that Wakamiya was also pretty smart. Unlike Kokoro who seemed to breeze through everything at school without a trace of effort, Wakamiya always strived to improve herself in everything she did. She was always active in class and asked all the right questions and placed pretty high in tests, though she wasn't necessarily at the very top of the class. That would be enough, though, and Wakamiya was a complete package. She didn't take it upon herself to become the leader of the popular girls, but she was respected enough to gain that status, even if she didn't make use of it as others would.

Either way, putting Kokoro Tsurumaki with her hot air balloon of excitement right next to the noble Eve, it would be very reasonable to want to be friends with Wakamiya instead of Kokoro. I could see myself falling into the same patterns of admiration that Ichigaya clearly had, but for now, I'll leave all matters of romance and pining to her, which she seems to clearly enjoy in secret.

\---

Not too much time had passed since the beginning of school, and save for the class introduction incident, Kokoro Tsurumaki had yet to pull a daring stunt. Since she had not placed herself in the centre of attention amongst the girls in our grade, I was able to avoid having to deal with her for the most part, at least for now.

But since she was going through a relatively uneventful streak, it was easier for me to pick up on a myriad of Kokoro's eccentricities in the meantime.

Here was the first one.

She always got in trouble for breaking school uniform violations, but not in the way you would expect for a normal girl. Every day, she would bring a different prop or wear part of a different costume, like a magician's hat or a superhero cape. Normally this would be completely absurd if it were anyone else in the school wearing the things that Kokoro wore, but since she was doing it all in good fun, she seemed to enjoy herself enough in various garbs that it eventually became part of her character. One day she would wear a summer yukata despite summer being months away, and she would look absolutely flawless in it. The way the fabric wrapped around her figure was way more than I could handle. I spent the entire day thinking about it, and had to almost everything I could to restrain myself from getting sucked into Kokoro's world. But the next day she'd be back to her usual school uniform. She ended up cycling through a set repertoire of different props and accessories that we all eventually got used to.

Secondly, Kokoro could not sit still, not for one second. Every time she had to vent her pent-up energy, she would burst out in a backflip or some other acrobatic stunt. One day, while we were out in the shade eating lunch, Kokoro would see us eat from all the way up on the second floor. Why she was on the second floor to begin with was beyond me, since that was for the second-year students, but instead of going down the stairs like a normal person, she would literally jump out the window and swan dive right down to the ground floor and land on her feet without injury. She would vault anything that was in her way if she had somewhere to go, and in gym class when we were practicing vaults, she would do flips over the vaulting platform like she was a power ranger.

You would think that this was an impressive feat, and that Kokoro was doing it to impress people or to make them smile, but I would often catch her doing her parkour-like things when nobody was looking, and it seemed like she was doing it for her own amusement. She has yet to sustain any injury, to the surprise of nearly everyone in the school, and much to the dismay of the faculty who was responsible for making sure she didn't get hurt.

For the staff, it had reached a point where they had to once again call Kokoro in to the office for a personal talk, but like clockwork, it was the suits that came in to save the day and settle matters from behind the scenes. None of the teachers said a word about it since.

Here was the next Kokoro-ism. Kokoro would often disappear from class during breaks. And once everyone was let out for the day, Kokoro was nowhere to be seen. At first I thought she was the kind of person who went home every day, but as it turned out, she had spent the entirety of the first part of her high school experience joining every single club and sports team that Hanasakigawa offered. She'd been a ringer for the basketball team, the tennis club (which I eventually joined, but only after Kokoro had quit; I made sure of this), and a myriad of others, Outside of sports, she even joined the other special interest groups like the occult society and the tea ceremony club that Wakamiya famously joined. For each one of those clubs, Kokoro relished in wearing the different uniforms associated with them. Sometimes you'd see Kokoro bolting down the hall towards the band club with one instrument or another in her hand, and obviously this freaked out the conductor and the section leaders, but it seemed like she could quickly learn to play any instrument that she picked up and become proficient in it in such a short amount of time. She hasn’t quit the orchestra club yet, but like clockwork, you could expect her to eventually lose interest and join some other club.

The fact that she wouldn't settle down on a particular activity eventually grated on me. She could do anything in the world, what did she really want?

Between her middle school antics and her seemingly being in all clubs at once, she eventually gained the notoriety amongst the second years and the seniors. It took very little time for the name Kokoro Tsurumaki to become that of a school urban legend. There are rumours about the seven mysteries of Haneoka girl's academy, but Kokoro had become a mystery unto herself.

\---

While all of this was going on (at least as far as Kokoro's activities was concerned), the first month of the school year had come to a close and we finally came face to face with May.

I'm not the kind of person who would easily believe in weird conspiracy theories, because for the most part, a lot of folks that I randomly happen upon in internet videos talking about the latest government cover-up seem to have ulterior motives about what they truly believe in. But no matter, as much as I had tried to avoid falling into the circle of the conspiracy theorists, I did not realize at the time that I was slowly becoming roped into a very strong happenstance that I could only be able to explain as will of the gods of girls rock and the bands that serve them.

Golden Week was finally coming to a close, and to skip formalities, I'll just say that I had found myself a part-time job during the week to keep myself busy during the break from school and make money on the side. The gig was pretty simple: the folks at the shopping district would make me wear a giant bear suit and I would hand out packages of tissues to passersby. Sounds easy enough, right? As it turns out, even a fully-covering bear suit wasn't enough to hide my identity (or my shame, rather) from the rest of the school.

"Misaki, is that you?"

Someone tugged at a tuft of fur from what I can only describe as Michelle's (that's the name of the bear mascot, by the way) lower back. It was Ichigaya, almost dumbstruck.

She with Toyama, who was carrying an open guitar case with a broken hinge, a red star-shaped guitar comfortably resting inside it.

"Is this what you've been doing during Golden Week?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess. The money's good, and I don't really have to do much."

"Ah, I'm jelaous."

"What about you?"

"I've been babysitting this one over here." Toyama was crying as she held the broken guitar case.

"I don't get what you're talking about."

"Misaki, if I had to tell you in full detail, the both of us would fall into complete despair. I gotta go, this one over here is going to completely flip if we don't fix this guitar case in time."

And then the two of them went off, seemingly towards the music store nearby, Edogawa. I noticed that quite a few of the girls at our school were frequently visiting that store, as if they were all interested in playing instruments of one kind or another. I wasn't too surprised at this, really. Glitter*Green was a really popular band that had made a name for themselves in the city, alongside a few others. The very thought of Ichigaya and Toyama forming their own band was very peculiar to me, since I couldn't possibly see the former put much energy into doing something like that. As much as it pained me to admit it, but I always thought that Ichigaya and myself were both similar in that respect, as I just wanted a normal high school life and not have to deal with the harsh demands of being part of a band.

A part of me wanted to warn Ichigaya about the possible perils of going the band route, but, upon seeing the sight of the one and only Kokoro Tsurumaki trying to sing in public alongside another girl hopelessly trying to accompany her on the drums, the real onus fell upon myself to make sure that I would never get roped in the way Ichigaya was.

\---

When school started back up again, it came as a surprise to find that Kokoro Tsurumaki was already seated before I had arrived for the morning classes. She was her usual cheery self, and sitting on the floor next to her desk was black instrument case from the orchestra club, which made me think, Ah, it's Tuesday. The reminder helped me snap back into the rhythm of the school week as I sat myself down in front of her, and for no possible reason that I could give at the time, I opened my mouth and began talking to Kokoro Tsurumaki.

"Did you really parachute from an airplane to come to class, back in middle school?"

Kokoro shifted her gaze towards me with an earnest interest, as if she were a dog alerted to the presence of a savoury treat. She smiled, which was odd considering the question I had asked. Scary, even.

"Oh? How did you know about that?"

I mean, it was only the most notorious thing to happen at this school, perhaps ever. You tell me.

"Uh, I guess I heard from someone else."

"Uh-huh..."

Kokoro's eyebrows furrowed as she prodded me with her stares, as if she had drifted into a state of thought, though it would be a surprise to me if she were the kind to actually think about things before or after she did them.

"I actually had a lot of fun that morning, and it made me even happier that everyone at school had fun watching me too. I knew that other people were watching too, but I didn't think that the rumor would spread as far as it did! Did learning about it make you happy?"

Frankly, I wasn't sure how to answer that.

"Because I was only allowed to do it that once, it was a shame that I couldn't do it again for other people to enjoy, especially now that we're in high school and there's new people and new friends to make. I want to make the whole school smile!"

"Don't you find all of that exhausting? Don't you just want to sleep in sometimes?"

"Sleeping can be fun too, but it's not for everybody. And you can't smile when you're asleep, unless you're dreaming of something happy!"

"I don't usually have dreams when I sleep."

"Then you could try doing something else other than sleep if you want to be happy."

"Is that so?"

I could just feel my body gradually getting sucked into this vortex of utter joy, and I wasn't so sure if that was a good thing or not. I let the silence linger for a little bit longer before I shifted my chair to face the front of the class.

She asked, from behind, "You seem familiar, do I know you from somewhere or from a long time ago?"

I shook my head, and that's when Hinata, the homeroom teacher entered the room to begin the morning classes, and the conversation between myself and Kokoro promptly ended.

\---

My very brief moment speaking with Kokoro felt like nothing at the time, but if I were to paint a picture of the relationship that she and I had, it would look like the tip of an iceberg, with a much more sinister unknown lurking underwater. What that hidden thing was, I wasn't so sure at the time, nor was I eager to find out.

Even if I tried to explore the depths of this girl, Kokoro Tsurumaki, it would have been difficult because she was only in the classroom during class and just brief moments before it started, which made for a very small window of time for me to initiate any semblance of conversation with her.

Whichever approached I tried, I figured Kokoro would always respond enthusiastically, even if I tried asking the most mundane of questions. “Did you have breakfast this morning?” “I did, and it was the best!” “Who’s your favourite author?” “All of them!” and so on and so forth. The fact that I was planning to prompt a response that was anything but optimistic probably meant that I was losing my marbles, or that I was unknowingly drifting closer and closer to the point of no return.

Which is why when Kokoro showed up to class late the morning after, having explained to our homeroom teacher that she slept in, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread. Did I make Kokoro sleep in because I suggested it to her?

Upon asking, Kokoro replied, “I wasn’t able to dream last night.”

While she spoke with a genuine tone of concern, it was just sleeping in. I couldn’t imagine Kokoro taking my advice. There was no other reason for her to consider sleeping in other than curiosity, right?

Heck, I probably should have slept in, myself.

\---

“So did you try joining all the clubs?”

While it became an everyday occurrence that I would talk to Kokoro for the few minutes leading up to the beginning of class, I found it difficult to talk about subjects that prodded a little deeper into Kokoro’s life. My previous attempts at small talk made very little progress, so I made the risky decision to ask about the things that may be a little more personal to her. I didn’t think that a girl like Kokoro would have any secrets or, god willing, emotions other than happiness, but if I mentioned anything that would obviously elicit a positive reaction, I wouldn’t be able to make much headway into her innermost thoughts, if she had any at all.

“I mean, you’re still in the orchestra club, right? How are things going with them?”

Almost instantly, “They don’t seem to be very happy.”

What did she mean by not happy?

“They weren’t happy at all, actually.”

She kept her chin up, but her smile belied the confusion that was written all over her face.

“I first joined the club because I heard them play and it made me really happy, so I decided right then and there that I wanted to play too, so I asked the conductor if I could join.”

“And then what?”

“He said I’d have to audition for a spot, so I did, and it turned out that I was really good at the trumpet, and then I was allowed to play, which was great! It was a lot of fun!”

“So why weren’t they happy about you joining?”

“Well, I think it’s because one of the other trumpets couldn’t play anymore since I was let into the club. Could it be that it was because of me that she couldn’t play anymore?”

“Probably.”

“That’s no good! I wouldn’t be happy at all if I was the reason that everyone else stopped being happy. I think I’m going to quit. If they were happy to begin with, they probably didn’t need my help in the first place.”

“You know, that’s actually a mature way to think about it, Kokoro.”

“Yeah, but I really enjoyed the music. It would be nice to play music like that again!”

Upon mentioning that, she settled into her desk, a little bit more fidgety than usual. The morning class started soon after.

\---

I had another conversation with Kokoro one of the days that followed.

“I heard a rumour about you.”

“Was it a funny story? Did it make you smile?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say so, but I’m curious. Did you have a lot of girls confess to you in middle school?”

I’m not sure why I had asked, but the thought was nagging me from the back of my head. I couldn’t possibly see what those girls saw in Kokoro that would make her a prospective romantic partner. I mean, Kokoro was as pretty as they come, but is that really enough to develop a crush on her?

Kokoro’s eyes widened with curiosity. “Did you hear that from Arisa? I’m really glad she started coming back to school again. She hardly ever came to class during middle school. Was it because she confessed to me? I don’t know, but I’m glad she’s found a group of friends to hang out with.”

“Ah, I didn’t even know about that.”

“But anyway, what were you asking about again? I don’t remember, it probably wasn’t that important.”

“I was talking about- you know what? Never mind, you’re right, it wasn’t important.”

“It must be nice though, to be able to be a part of a circle of friends like that. Arisa is really lucky to have found Kasumi, Tae, Rimi, and Saya. I just know that the five of them are gonna go on some fantastic adventures this year!”

It didn’t even occur to me that the five of them formed into a group of their own. At first it was just Ichigaya and Toyama, but while I was busy trying to crack open the walnut that was Kokoro Tsurumaki, that pair grew into a quintet with Hanazono, Ushigome, and Yamabuki. The five of them seemed pretty different from each other in several ways, but it made sense to me that they would become friends like that. But Kokoro bringing up that topic begged another question.

“So how come you’re not in a circle of friends like Arisa’s? Wouldn’t it be more exciting if you had someone to go on adventures with?”

“I had a number of other girls come up to me wanting to hang out with me more, but they seemed to be scared of going on adventures with me, so they stopped doing that.”

I nodded affirmatively, although it was quite obvious to everyone but Kokoro that the reason why they stopped hanging out with her was because they just couldn’t keep up. I didn’t have the heart to tell Tsurumaki that, though I wish she was at least aware of that fact to some degree.

“The big thing about going on adventures is to have courage! The way I see it, if you’re not willing to try new things, then you’re missing out on new experiences that might be fun and make you happy.”

Kokoro pumped her first, almost combative, despite the fact that she was clearly coming from a place of optimism.

“If you really want to be happy, isn’t the right thing to do is to give new experiences a chance? Isn’t it more fun that way?”

The way she put it, I guess...I guess she had a point.

I thought about it more, and it reminded me of all of those things I loved as a kid. It would be pretty funny if Toyama was an alien, or if Ichigaya was secretly a princess from a far away country that fled to Japan to try and live a happy life away from the kingdom. It would be even cooler if Wakamiya really was a samurai, or better yet, a samurai that time-traveled to the present from way back in the feudal era. All three of them who were keeping an eye on me and Kokoro’s conversation, they would all have been much more interesting to me, and would have made life at Hanasakigawa more interesting.

But honestly, I have to hit the brakes here. There’s absolutely no way that aliens, time travelers, and espers exist in the real world. Could you imagine the real-world ramifications if that were true? Wouldn’t the government intervene in some way? What if some of those people weren’t friendly at all, and all they wanted was to hurt people? I think that most people would be afraid of them, and if one of them actually said something like “Oh by the way, I’m from the future,” would anyone believe them? Wouldn’t they get bullied for saying something so ridiculous?

“You have to give new things a chance, Misaki!” Kokoro declared, jumping out of her seat and right on top of her desk, venting all of the pent up energy that she had been building throughout our conversation. It goes without saying that everyone was looking at us by this point.

“I’ll try anything once!” She said, right as our homeroom teacher, Hinata, came in, barely noticing Kokoro making a scene by herself.

“Oops, looks like class is starting.”

Kokoro slowly lowered herself back down into her seat, while the rest of the class eventually settled into their own desks and took out their books and pencil cases. Thank goodness it didn’t escalate any further than that. Hinata had settled in as well.

“Sorry for being late, I had to take care of something...but anyways, let’s get started, shall we?”

With Hinata reinstating the monotony of our daily class routine, it became apparent to myself that Kokoro, despite readily learning whatever that she was taught, wasn’t really challenged by the mundane life that was high school.

She clearly wanted more.

\---

Now I could go on and wag my finger at Kokoro about how it was completely unrealistic to want something in her life that was, well, larger than life, but to be honest, I wanted a little bit of that too. It hurt to admit it.

Kokoro was this girl who, even with all of her beauty and charisma, did not for one moment give up on that dream that Something Fantastic was waiting just around the corner, and even with all of the efforts that she put in to find that Something Fantastic, what with the whole skydiving incident and the various misadventures she subjected herself and anyone else hapless enough to roll with it, she truly believed that she would succeed.

I didn’t think I could find a bigger dreamer than her.

I suppose it helps that she had a lot of money, right? Like, that could be the start of everything. I was taught as a kid that money doesn’t buy happiness, but I sort of picked up on my own that those who were well-off weren’t busy trying to get by, and could spend more time being happy if they wanted to. I guess that for Kokoro, it was because she had so much money that she needed to find this happiness. I don’t know if being able to meet aliens, time travellers, or espers, would be able to do that, but if anything, the fact that she wanted others to be happy as well, set her apart from the other rich people that I knew.

“Yo, Misaki.”

Sometime during lunch, Ichigaya approached my desk, and was so straightforward about needing to talk to me that she even dropped any pretense of trying to act like a role-model around the other students. “Whatever happened to your ‘good day, Okusawa’?”

“Forget about that! The real question is how did you do it?”

“Do what?” I asked, trying to piece together Ichigaya’s interrogation and her straight-up serious tone.

Ichigaya pointed dramatically to Tsurumaki’s seat like she was a lawyer in a courtroom drama. As usual, Kokoro was absent during the break. “Did you use some sort of cheat code on her to get her to talk like that? What did you say to her? Tell me, for crying out loud!”

“Arisa~, you’re not yourself when you’re grumpy. Have a piece of my lunch.” Toyama appeared from seemingly out of nowhere and fed her friend a morsel of fried chicken with her own chopsticks.

“What do you want me to say?” I asked, waiting for Ichigaya to finish chewing. “I’ve been talking to her the way I usually do. Is there a problem?”

“I know your type, Misaki. You’re the kind that can’t help but speak out whenever something ridiculous happens. I would know. I have to put up with this one over here constantly.”

Ichigaya turned towards Toyama, and gestured around all of her, and I understood completely despite Toyama’s pouty denial.

“What’s really amazing is that Misaki really is like a Kokoro-whisperer!” Toyama declared, shifting the conversation back at me.

“Kokoro’s not a horse you know!” Ichigaya snapped. “But she does have a point, though. How you’re able to hold a conversation with Tsurumaki is beyond all understanding. It’s unbelievable.”

“And not only that,” Toyama added, “It’s like Misaki’s the first actual friend that Kokoro has made this year. Ahh, how nice. I wish I could become Kokoro’s friend~!”

“Well you’ve got me, isn’t that enough?” Ichigaya said, sarcastically. “Actually, don’t answer that question.”

As the two girls in front of me kept prodding me about how naturally I managed to form some sort of rapport with Kokoro Tsurumaki, I couldn’t help but wonder the same about both of them.

“I could say that the two of you are pretty close yourselves. When did this-” I gestured around both Toyama and Ichigaya, “- when did this become more of a comedy duo?”

“They’re best friends now! Bonds forged by the spirit of bushido~”

Another girl entered the conversation, this time with a highly formal albeit bubbly tone of speech. It was none other than Eve Wakamiya, who was ecstatic at both our sudden developments.

“Kokoro is a very determined girl,” Wakamiya continued, “she possesses plenty of warrior-like qualities that I admire and would like to gain someday. Did she pass on her secrets to you as if both of you were master and apprentice?”

She had such a weird way of describing things, but at least I understood what she meant, so I had to think about it for a bit so I could figure out how to explain it to her.

“I-I don’t know!” In the end, I couldn’t figure it out.

Wakamiya giggled.

“I guess they are secrets, after all. What matters the most is that Kokoro is starting to get closer to the class, and we’re all happy that you were able to become friends with her~”

It was clear that Eve and Kokoro were both eccentric in their own ways, but at the very least, Eve had a calming presence about her that made it easier for her to talk to. It also helped that She spoke like she genuinely wanted to have a conversation with whoever she talked to. That made her easy to get along with, and she ended up being friends with almost everyone.

“I guess you could say we’re kind of friends...”

I trailed off thinking about it, but the fact of the matter was that I never really made an effort to make friends with anyone in the way that Wakamiya said. Sure, I didn’t try to stir up trouble with the other girls, and for the most part I didn’t get on anyone’s bad side, but I couldn’t say I was friends with anyone yet, amongst the girls in my class. Not in the way that Wakamiya was friends with everyone, at least.

Almost by default, it was Kokoro who I turned out to be closest to, and the thought of that put me on edge a bit.

“Whatever techniques you’re using, keep it up. It’ll only be a matter of time before Kokoro becomes a part of our sisterhood. Misaki, give it your all!”

There was a sudden aura of determination that surrounded Wakamiya, and while her encouragement was directed at me, some of that probably should have been directed to Kokoro instead. I didn’t want to be her representative or anything.

“Fight!”

Wakamiya pumped her fist, and I could only muster a half-hearted cheer from her call to action. She was a natural cheerleader, but not so much like the traditional kinds that people would normally see at a sporting event. She was more like a general leading the other girls to war, probably against Tsurumaki. A war to become her friend, as ridiculous as it sounded in my head.

“Arisa~, we’re friends, right?”

Ichigaya rolled her eyes at Toyama, both in exasperation but also with a hint of defeat, as if she had finally been worn down. Whatever front Ichigaya was trying to put up, Toyama gradually wore her down in the same determined fashion that Wakamiya described. The two of them were absolutely buddy-buddy with each other.

Whether or not they were more than that, it was none of my business whatsoever.

\---

It reached the time of the year for the class to move seats, as we had been arranged in alphabetical order since the beginning of the semester. Class President Eve Wakamiya, in accordance with her bushido code, accepted the task of leading our group of misfits as if she were leading the last remaining samurai of a feudal era, and her first decree as leader was to draw lots for our new positions.

How noble it was, therefore, for me to end up in a spot towards the back of the room, right next to the windows, with Kokoro Tsurumaki once again sitting right behind me. While everyone took the seating change as an opportunity to chat and delay the class even further, I was once again stuck with having to talk to Kokoro, who was a shaken soda can of energy, waiting to explode on some hapless sap who opened it.

“Isn’t it so much fun to change seats like this? You get to meet new people and make wonderful friendships. Just look at the smiles of everyone in class!”

“Yeah, everyone seems to be in a good mood.”

“They’re smiling just as much as the students in the orchestra club. They’re enjoying themselves a lot more now that I’m no longer there.”

“And you’re okay with yourself not being in the orchestra club anymore?”

“I’ll be fine, I always find something fun to do. Isn’t it nice though, to have people to play music with? All the members there really like being around each other, and everyone is important in making an unforgettable experience for audiences and themselves!”

“Don’t sell yourself short, you’re like a one-man orchestra. You could perform all by yourself and entertain the same kind of crowd.”

“I tried that already, and it doesn’t seem to work. When I sing my songs, it feels like something’s missing. I can make a few people smile by myself, but if there were more people to make music with me, I’m sure I could get even more!”

“Seems to me like you should listen to Glitter*Green.”

“Glitter*Green?”

“They’re a band. Do you know what a band is?”

“Band? I guess I don’t know.”

“It’s like an orchestra, right? But instead of having over 20 members playing many different instruments, it’s just a smaller number, maybe 4-5. And they play certain instruments like guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, or even just singing.”

“Hey, I can sing! Why doesn’t this school have a band?”

“Glitter*Green is from this school, and most of its members are even on the student council.”

“Oh wow! There was a band right under my nose, huh?”

“I know what you’re about to ask, and no. They’re probably not open to new members. It’s like the orchestra club, right? They’ve settled on their members and are happy with who they have. They work best just the way things are.”

Kokoro examined me with a curiosity that I’ve never seen from her before. She was already pretty curious about anything that she wasn’t familiar with, but the mention of girl bands left her with a sparkly-eyed excitement that you would only see on a kid discovering money under their pillow after being visited by the tooth fairy.

Should I indulge her in this line of thinking?

I was so close to practically telling Kokoro to start her own band, but she didn’t even say anything about what kind of band she would join. She didn’t even know what a band was a few seconds ago, how could she know how to start one to begin with? And it’s not like playing in a band would be the best way to accomplish her other goals, either. No matter how much she performed, she’d never be able to encounter supernatural phenomena. Stop mixing up your genres, Kokoro!

In the end, I could only tell her this: “You’d have to be pretty lucky to be able to form a band. Most musicians live their entire lives without being a part of the band, and they turn out to be just fine. They go on with their lives, going to college and finding a cushy job, and settling into a cozy family life if they wanted to. Music is always going to be there, but the band experience is best reserved for movie and manga protagonists, people who are looking for The Perfect Sound. It’s only by sheer fate that could only be depicted in fiction that they could meet exactly the right number of people who are exactly like themselves and they end up making the majority of the popular music that we know today. You and me, we’re better off learning how to play the piano and just leave it at that. That should be satisfying enough to fit into our ordinary lives.”

“But isn’t it more fun with a band though?”

Kokoro cut me off in the middle of my stream of consciousness to ponder to herself for a moment. It was clear that she wasn’t even considering a word that I had said, and was almost even wracking herself for a solution.

I do concede, however, that it was probably more likely that she would be able to find what she was looking for if she started her own group. Putting herself out there on stage would expose her to countless people and she might be able to meet interesting people, while making everyone smile in the meantime. She could kill two birds with one stone that way.

Thank goodness for statistics, though. The likelihood of Kokoro finding the exact people who were very much like herself was incredibly slim, let alone finding anyone who could possibly be interested in joining her. It’s never going to happen, right? At least, that’s what I figured in my mind.

Leave it to me to be the spark that lit the fuse that was Kokoro Tsurumaki. She didn’t even give me a chance to fight back.

\---

The afternoon classes left me in a near-catatonic state, as the warmth of the sun’s rays bathed my slowly swaying body with a comfort that could lull even the largest blue whale on earth into a deep slumber. It was getting to that time of the year where I could just lie on the grass all day if I wanted to, and sleep without having to worry about sunburn or run the risk of getting a cold from sudden rain. I felt like I could just lay on my desk like this forever. On the verge of departing to dreamland, I felt my head snap forward like I was in a freak car accident.

“Ow, what was that for?!”

My head, already jerked in every direction at once, turned towards Kokoro sitting in the desk behind me. When I gathered my bearings, it turned out that she had grabbed me by the shoulders with both hands. My face, barely a few inches away from hers, took in an up-close view of Kokoro with what I could only describe as the widest smile that I’ve ever seen her make.

“I figured it out, Misaki!”

I had to shield myself from the brightness in her eyes, it was like staring directly at the sun. There was no turning back from my previous zen, so I had to ask.

“What are you talking about?”

“If I can’t join any, I should just have to make one myself!”

“What?”

“A band!”

I froze, I didn’t even realize that Kokoro was reaching forward from her desk. She was practically standing on it.

“Oh, that. Congratulations, Kokoro. I hope your band becomes famous. Can I go back now?”

“What’s with the long face? You should be as happy as me, since it was your idea to begin with!”

“What idea? I was just blabbering on because I didn’t know what else to talk about. Seriously, Kokoro, couldn’t this just wait for later?”

“Later? Why can’t we talk about this now?”

“Because we’re still in the middle of class, maestro.”

Kokoro loosened her grip on my shoulders, and she surveyed the room. Finally free from her grasp, I looked forward again, facing the front of the room, and saw the entire class, including the history teacher, completely dumbfounded by the scene that we just made.

It wasn’t the first time Kokoro had acted out in class, but it had been some time since the most recent incident, so for a thing like this to come up out of nowhere, it came as a shock to almost everyone, the two of us included.

I gently placed my hands on Kokoro’s shoulders and gestured her to sit back down, and in a last-ditch effort to not draw any more attention to myself than needed, I simply raised my hand for the teacher as an admission of guilt. “Uh, that was my bad. Carry on.”

Kokoro respectfully sat back down at her desk, as if she wasn’t at fault for what had just happened, but as the teacher turned back towards the board to write more notes, I could sense the burgeoning schemes that were being plotted from right behind me.

Oh god, a band.

Oh no.

Am I going to be a part of this?

I didn’t know how to play any instrument, but knowing Kokoro, it wouldn’t matter one bit, and the thought of that shook me to the core.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misaki and Kokoro recruit the other members to join the band.

So yeah, that’s basically how it all went down.

By the end of class, Kokoro dragged me out of the room, my hand held tightly in hers, as we made a mad dash through the hallway and up the stairs towards the rooftop entrance, the two of us stopping on one of the landings along the way.

The roof was a very popular place for students to hang out during lunch as well as after school, but seeing that it was still early in the day, the entrance was locked up tight, and only those with special privileges were allowed access. Normally, this would include those of the student council or those in the school disciplinary committee, like Sayo Hikawa, but it wasn’t surprising to say the least that Kokoro somehow had clearance as well. In spite of this, as well as the unexpectedly pleasant weather outside, the two of us remained inside, crammed up against a wall of piled up boxes from various clubs and organizations. It was a well-kept mess, clearly available for future use, but practically inaccessible.

Not a very good place to make a romantic confession to a secret admirer, in all honesty. Not that I was expecting one from Kokoro, given the sudden revelation that she had earlier.

“I need your help, Misaki!” Kokoro was still holding on to my hand, and if it weren’t for the fact that she was only a few centimetres shorter than me, she would’ve been in a prime position to pin me against the boxes like a love interest from a shoujo manga.

“Help you with what?”

As if Kokoro wasn’t already making herself clear, I still had to ask.

“Forming my new band, of course.”

“Why do I have to help you form a band? What makes you think I could be of any use here?”

“You seem to know a lot about music, though. If I can get us some members, then you can handle the rest, it’s easy!”

There’s nothing easy at all about just making a band willy-nilly, but Kokoro seemed like she was having none of that whatsoever.

“Well, why drag me out of class for this? What does the school have to do with any of it?”

“Because the best way to form a band is to make a club. Don’t you find it odd that the school doesn’t have a light music club?”

That’s because everyone’s in a band nowadays, and they don’t need to be part of the school to make that work. Glitter*Green’s members are part of the student council, sure, but that doesn’t mean that they needed to form a club to make it happen. Hell, even Toyama and Ichigaya are in a band now, but they’re not part of a club either!

Kokoro handed me a key.

“Here. If you can figure out what’s needed for our light music club to happen, then I’ll find us some members, okay?”

Not okay! I’d have told her this, but it was clear that we had reached the point of no return in this conversation, and that Kokoro was already a thousand miles ahead of me in her mind. She somersaulted onto the nearby railing and slid the rest of the way down, leaving me by myself with key in hand. What’s this for, anyway? Kokoro couldn’t have possibly already procured a room by herself, right? I was too afraid to answer my own question.

“...but I don’t even know how to play an instrument…”

I postulated to nobody in particular. I just stood there, basking in my own dumbstruck reaction to everything, hoping that I wouldn’t have to explain any of this to anybody when I returned to class.

\---

It’s not hard at all to start a student club here at Hanasakigawa, actually.

Firstly, your club has to be at least five members, as well as a faculty advisor. You also need to have a clear idea of what your club’s goals and what your routine activities are. You are to organize all of this into a pitch that you give to the student council, who will then make a decision on the validity of the club based on its compatibility with the school’s “academic ideals” (whatever that means!). The club must promote school spirit and is held under strict supervision by the clubs committee (which, having asked around, was recently absorbed into the disciplinary committee). Also, there are several distinctions that a school club can be recognized as, whether it be a sports club, a general interest group, or a performing arts club.

I guess Kokoro’s light music ensemble would fall into the umbrella of performing arts, though I had some real doubts as to whether there would be any performing to be done in the meantime.

Since Kokoro was supposedly handling the task of finding members, it fell to me to find a faculty advisor. This could either go really badly or without any problems whatsoever. If Kokoro really did have the faculty in her pockets for any reason, then setting up the club would be easy. Seeing that her reputation is what it is, I assumed this to be the case.

That being said, I had some lingering doubts about whether Kokoro’s image of club activities would fall under the student charter, but once again I realized her potential clout, and immediately thought nothing of it afterwards.

So really, Kokoro ended up handling everything; I just needed to fill out the paperwork.

\---

Once again, Kokoro led me by my hand down the hall as soon as the lunch period began. She spirited me away from the classroom with such urgency that it was as if she were a master thief stealing a priceless zirconium from the city museum. I had to hold on to my bag to make sure nothing fell out, as I was in the middle of putting away my things when I had been kidnapped.

“Where are you taking me?” A standard question from a typical abductee.

“I got us a clubroom! Let’s go see it!” Kokoro barely looked back at me as she zoomed full speed towards the rear exit of the school and onto the athletics field. Running alongside the school’s track, somehow she managed to catch up to a group of cross country club members who were in the middle of a lunchtime run, beating them to the far end of the track.

I barely had enough time to catch my breath when Kokoro finally stopped at what appeared to be a somewhat broken-down equipment storage hut. Letting go of my hand, she grabbed the large handle of the sliding door and pulled it wide open, revealing a dimly-lit, but nonetheless empty space inside.

There was a small, worn-out nameplate on the wall next to the now-opened door.

_ Softball Storage _ .

“This is it. This is the place!”

Kokoro entered the formerly enclosed area and surveyed the dimensions of the room. It was fairly meager in size, and there was equipment scattered around and lay dusty on the floor. It didn’t seem like anyone had been here for the longest time. That being said, all it would take was a bit of reorganization and maybe moving a few of the bigger fixtures like the automatic pitching machine, and the space could make for a viable practice area.

Now, I said that the place was empty, and that was most certainly the case  _ on the inside _ , but all of a sudden, there was a loud, impactful thud on the wall opposite the entrance. A few seconds later, another thud. And then another. Almost rhythmic. The two of us looked at each other and then at the wall with a curious stare, and then immediately left the equipment room and circled around to find a girl throwing a baseball against the wall of the shed.

“This is our clubhouse now! Isn’t it neat and cozy?”

“Wait, what? Where are we?”

“This is the storage area that the softball club uses for their activities. We could have gone and gotten the same or nearby room as the orchestra club, but as it turns out, the club also sometimes used this area as a practice space.”

“Slow down, Kokoro. Does this belong to the softball club or the orchestra club?”

“It used to be the softball club’s, but the third-years all graduated this past spring, so it has zero members. It was close to becoming shut down for good, but that girl over there is the only one who joined as a first-year.”

“So is the softball club still alive then?”

“Of course! Who knows what the future holds in store for them. If they try hard enough, they might be able to recruit more members and play again. Wouldn’t that be great?”

“Well yeah, but then that would mean that we wouldn’t have a place for our club, right?”

“Oh don’t worry about that. We’ll deal with it when the time comes. But for now, this is our new home!”

What in the actual hell. Kokoro planned on taking storage room for herself, as if she were a CEO of a corporation buying out a small business just because it was in a convenient location for her to use. She practically is one, isn’t she? I turned to the girl hurling the ball repeatedly at the side of our makeshift practice room.

A petite girl with short, orange hair.

She hadn’t even noticed the two of us as Kokoro went on about claiming ownership of the room. She went about a focused routine of throwing the ball at a target marked in an enclosed square, roughly the height from a person’s knees to their waist, and the width of a few feet. She whipped the ball into the box, and it bounced rhythmically back to her. She looked determined, even girlishly cute while doing so.

I leaned towards Kokoro. “What about her?”

“She said it’s fine!”

“Are you kidding me?”

“I saw her running laps around the baseball diamond during lunch. I asked if anyone was using the storage room. She said no, so I helped myself. She doesn’t seem to care since she’s more focused on sports. Hey, do you think she plays an instrument?”

You can’t just ask  _ anyone _ to join your band, Kokoro.

My eyes wandered back over to the girl playing catch with the wall by herself.

Fair skin, glistening with sweat, and narrowed eyes focusing on the target. Her throwing technique was almost as if she was playing softball her entire life. Not a single bit of energy wasted in her movements, yet she had plenty to spare with each throw. Her hair was short, and her bangs were kinda scattered around her face due to her practicing, though I wondered if that was natural or her just wiping moisture away from her face constantly. She looked like an action figure but also doll-like at the same time. She definitely showed hints of girlish features beneath her outer athleticism. If I had to generalize, I’d say she is most likely the tomboyish sporty type.

Even as I stared, the girl didn’t pay any attention at all to me and Kokoro’s presence. She simply kept throwing, adding a few laboured grunts and yells as the ball escaped her hands.

Finally, she took notice, and with her gleaming brown eyes finally set on mine, she gave an emphatic smile and thumbs up as she giggled with a very quick  _ hehe _ .

“I’m Hagumi Kitazawa,” she squeaked. She had a bit of a pitchy voice that you could tell came from shouting orders on the field. She had her own pace and energy that was inviting, and seemed to be of good use for being the captain of a team sport.

The ball rolled back to her, and she immediately resumed her pitching drills.

“So, uh, Hagumi,” I asked, “Kokoro here wants to take over the entire space inside the softball supply shed and use it for band practice. Are you okay with that?”

“Sure!”

She responded enthusiastically, with an efficiency that didn’t seem robotic at all, but it was clear she was more focused on playing softball at that very moment. I should have just taken the ball from her so I could have a proper conversation, but it was flying so fast that I didn’t think I could catch it in time without getting hit by the pitch.

“See? We’ll be fine!” Kokoro added. The volume of her voice seemed to have gotten louder at this point, and I was scared that she was being sucked into Hagumi’s pace, which, conceptually, was unheard of. Maybe it was the other way around?

“Oh, and Hagumi,” she added. “You can play an instrument, right?”

Hagumi nodded, as she threw again, this time causing the ball to curve through the air while still hitting the box in the exact upper corner.

“This is our new club room and practice space now. Let’s meet up here after school whenever we can, unless someone’s busy, then that’s totally fine, too. Over and out!”

She said this with the same zest for life that she showed when she first introduced herself to the class at the beginning of the school year, which now feels like an eternity ago.

I choked up at the fear that I have so many more eternities spent with Kokoro Tsurumaki ahead of me.

\---

With all of that out of the way, it had been established that we now had a room to operate our so-called club or band or light music ensemble or whatever. It was a start, though we still didn’t have any applications filled out to officially create the club, nor did we have an official charter. I told Kokoro that we needed to take care of these before we could continue with anything else, but she already had a plan in mind.

“We can worry about the boring stuff later,” Kokoro retorted. “What we really need are members, two more, at that.”

Two more? I figured that I was going to be a member, but surely, she didn’t just assume that Hagumi would end up being recruited into our festive little freakshow, did she? There’s no way a bright, energetic girl like her could join the likes of- oh.

“It’s only two more anyways, and since we need members to form a band, too, I already have someone in mind!”

She already knew someone? As in, someone who is preemptively willing to join in on Kokoro’s parade? I was scared of what was in store.

\---

The next day, I was surprised to hear that Toyama had to stay behind to attend to an unfinished assignment in her home economics course. Ichigaya said that she would hang around to wait for her, alongside the two other friends that they recently made, Yamabuki and Ushigome. They were beginning to form their own little ensemble, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that development, so I decided to head over to the club room.

Kokoro flashed a grin and a quick “I’ll meet you there!” before she darted out of the classroom in an instant, as if she were a superhero from a comic book or movie. The way she nearly beat the cross country team across a 150 meter stretch of track with me in tow, you would think she was a natural fit for any of the sports clubs here at school, or that she would have been eager to rebuild Hagumi’s softball team, but it was set in her mind that she needed a new member for the band, so that was that. Maybe this time she could get us an alien or something to join.

I dragged my feet away from my desk and lumbered out into the field and towards the old baseball shack that was now our light music practice room.

Hagumi was already seen inside, and it appeared that she had spruced up the space considerably. All of the supplies on the floor were picked up, and even the tables and shelves were rearranged, to the point that even other supplies that you wouldn’t normally associate with softball or baseball could be found here. What kind of sports club has a tea set?

She was silent this time, contemplative even. She was in the middle of enjoying a bite of something.

“...Whatcha eating?” I asked, though I immediately regretted it, seeing that her mouth was already stuffed with food. Instead of saying anything, she nodded eagerly and flashed a quick thumbs up before continuing her meal. She fiddled around with the croquette in her hand and rotated it such that the tissue holding the food showed a label saying “Kitazawa Meat Shop.” The name sounded familiar.

“Does it taste any good?”

Of course it would taste good, it has her family name on it. Her folks probably own the place. Shouldn’t I know any better? Now I just sound rude. Either way, Hagumi Kitazawa mustered another nod as she finished swallowing her bite.

“It’s the best in town.”

“Where’d you get it from?”

“My dad’s a butcher.”

“So you make your own food then?”

“No, but I help with the store whenever I can...”

“Is that so...”

“...”

Silence.

Was it something I said?

I could tell that I gradually killed the mood in the clubroom, not that there was a mood to begin with. But I was at least hoping that I could at hold a conversation with another person, especially someone who seemed to be typically energetic. When it was just me talking to her in private, Hagumi seemed to shy away, and anything I said would only make it worse.

“Sorry for being late, but I found her! It took me awhile to find out where she was at school, but here she is!”

For once, Kokoro’s sudden presence saved me from an undesirable situation. She burst through the door, dragging someone else along by the hand. My relief turned to abject fear as I saw the whimpering girl behind her. It wasn’t likely at all that she had come here out of her own free will.  _ Click _ . Upon hearing that sound, the whimper turned into a full-on anxious shriek.

“Fuee!”

It was perhaps the most adorable cry for help that could ever grace my ears.

“What’s going on?” The girl with the puppy-dog face asked. She looked like she had no idea where she was, though she seemed like the type that hardly ever knew where she was if she were anywhere outside of school.

“Where did you bring me? Why am I here? Why are you l-locking the door?! Aaaa...Fuee!”

“Don’t fret, Kanon!”

The girl froze upon hearing Kokoro saying her name, though she wasn’t surprised that Kokoro knew it. Did these two already know each other?

“It looks like introductions are in order, here. Everyone, meet Kanon Matsubara!”

And that was the extent of her introduction. No other fanfare, though it was considerably more than the introduction that was made between Hagumi and myself. How was she doing during all of this anyway? I couldn’t imagine it was any better for her, either. Although she was still a bit sullen, the more pressing aura came from the mysterious girl who was introduced to us as Kanon Matsubara. She was on the verge of tears. I didn’t know if there was anything that I could have said that could have cheered up either of the two, but what choice did I have in the matter?

“So where did you kidnap her from?”

“There was no kidnapping. We know each other from before!”

That doesn’t matter at all! If anything, kidnapping is more likely to be perpetrated by someone who the victim knows, so this is even worse!

“I was out singing in front of the station downtown the other day, and this lovely girl was on her way to return a set of drums to the nearby music store. I asked her to join me and we ended up jamming together and put smiles on so many people’s faces!”

It couldn’t be...was this the same time when I saw Kokoro downtown? I couldn’t get a glimpse of the person drumming, but I wouldn’t have recognized Matsubara’s face anyways, since she didn’t look like she was in any of our classes.

“So wait, does that mean she’s a grade above us?”

“Sure, but what does that matter?”

I suppose it didn’t, really. Regardless of grade, abduction is abduction, and at this point, Kokoro had practically stolen two high school girls into her club, neither of whom looked particularly happy at this point.

“Ugh whatever. So uh, Matsubara, was it? Why her?”

“She doesn’t look like it now, but when we played together, she did such a good job putting smiles on people’s faces!”

Kokoro sounded like some sort of obsessed talent agent who scoured downtown alleyways for the sketchiest of clients.

“Her cuteness alone is enough to make people smile, but her drumming was brave!”

“Is brave really the right word to use here?”

“She doesn’t look like it, but when push comes to shove, she’s brave enough to show her strength, and it comes out in her instrument playing, isn’t that right Kanon?”

I turned to Matsubara to see if there really was something there underneath. She was said to be a year older, but she was barely shorter than me. I still couldn’t see it just from the way she stood there. She was like a lost penguin that wandered away from the aquarium. Her long and slightly wavy sky blue hair softly framed her dainty facial features, yet, her eyes were deep and violet, and somewhere in there I could feel a bit of that courage that Kokoro was talking about: the courage to break free even though it didn’t know where it would go once it got out. I felt compelled to help her escape this situation.

“She really is a good drummer, I swear. Let’s show them what you can do!”

Kokoro pulled out a snare drum on a stand that apparently was just lying around in the corner of the storage room and handed Kanon a pair of drum sticks that also seemed to suddenly appear from thin air.

“Ah? Ehh??” Kanon flailed around, but eventually found her bearings and started gently tapping her sticks against the drum’s white surface, now rhythmically.

“La la la!” Kokoro began singing random notes without lyrics. It was exactly like the show that the two of them put on the other day, the one that drew in the large crowd while I was out working.

“Oh? Wow!” Just like that, Hagumi’s mood pulled a complete one eighty and she immediately perked up to the sight of Kokoro and Matsubara playing around, a frantic collaboration of uncoordinated chaos. Unsightly, sure, but Hagumi seemed to have fun with herself, and began prancing around, her body making the same measured movements, not a single ounce of energy wasted. A strange, yet calculated dance of sheer happiness.

“See what I mean? Hagumi got the right idea! La la la~!”

Matsubara’s panicked beats slowly turned more and more deliberate, somehow matching the energy that Kokoro was belting out through her nonsensical song. In some strange twist, she managed to give off the right accompanying sound for whatever it was that Kokoro was doing with her voice. The two of them hit a climactic crescendo together and ended in sync, as if they had been practicing as a duo for years.

“Now wasn’t that fun?”

Hagumi eagerly nodded, smiling. “Sure was! What was your name again? Kokoro? Mind if I call you Kokoron instead?”

“Sure!”

“What in the world was that?” I thoughtlessly blurted out. Hagumi, still basking in the afterglow of the trio’s spontaneous jam session, wiped a bead of sweat from her forehead.

“I don’t know if that was really music,” Hagumi concluded, “but that was incredible! Incredibly incredible!”

What was even more incredible was how Hagumi seemed to look like she was absolutely out of it right before Kokoro came in. I feel like I was the only one who saw. Was she trying to hide something from Kokoro, or did the music really perk her up as easily as it did?

It was too soon for me to ask, so instead I turned back to Matsubara, who had already politely carried the snare back to one side of the room.

“Senpai, are you okay with all of this? You’re not already in any other clubs, are you?”

“Um...I’m also in the...in the Tea Ceremony Club.”

“You’re free to decline Kokoro’s invitation if you need to. If the Tea Ceremony Club is more important to you, you’re more than welcome to say no.”

I wasn’t trying to rain on Kokoro’s parade, but nobody should be forced into anything that they don’t want to do. As for Matsubara, she turned to me with a somewhat self-assured half-smile, though it seemed like it was more due to the successful mini-live that she just performed. She then switched her focus onto Hagumi, which seemed to be the first time that she had noticed her presence, and her demeanor changed considerably. Matsubara softly murmured to herself, “Oh? I see...”

“It makes sense now,” she said.

What makes sense now? Matsubara, care to elaborate for me please?

“I won’t quit the Tea Ceremony Club, but I’ll gladly join Kokoro’s club.”

There was a hint of concern in her voice, though it didn’t feel as thought it was due to the potential conflicting schedules between both clubs.

“The light music club, was it?”

“Yes!” Kokoro responded. “But the name  _ Light Music Club _ , it doesn’t feel happy enough, don’t you think?”

Once again Kokoro was going ahead with some sort of plan that was already forming in her head. I had to explain to Matsubara about everything that we needed to do to officially become the light music club, or whatever Kokoro was going to call us.

“We’re basically borrowing this room, Kanon-san.”

“Kanon is fine.”

“It’s the least I could do. You’re a year older than the rest of us, after all.”

“It’s fine, really. I’d rather you call me Kanon.”

“Alright. Kanon, we’re borrowing the room from the girls softball club, where that girl over there, Hagumi Kitazawa is the only member. By extension, it is safe to assume that she has effectively joined the light music club as well.”

“Ah...”

Kanon, with a hint of a soft smile on her face, seemed to be getting a better sense of her surroundings and situation. Figuratively speaking, the little lost penguin started making her way back to the aquarium. How adorable!

On the other hand, Kokoro, with her beaming smile that had the word  _ irresponsible _ written all over it, pumped her fist with determination. “That’s it!”

“Fuee?”

“I just came up with a name for the band and our club!”

“Uh, alright.” I shrugged. “Let’s get it over with.”

I quickly skimmed the clock on the phone. The sooner we were done with our meeting for the day, the sooner I could leave and head to my job. I was so swept up in today’s events that I almost forgot that I had a shift. Kokoro didn’t know, but if she did, I doubt that she would care that I was getting paid to wear a bear costume.

\---

“Alright, everyone. Are you ready to hear the great news that I’m about to share with you? I just came up with it this very second!”

Kokoro flashed an overtly spirited pair of jazz hands.

“Hello, Happy World Brigade!”

...

“We are the _‘Say _**_Hello_**_, and Bring _**_Happy _**_Smiles to the _**_World_**_’_ _Brigade!_

“Or Hello, Happy World! for short.”

You’re reading all of this, right?

I know what you’re thinking, and I’m laughing too.

Firstly, about the whole “brigade” thing. Had Kokoro heeded my advice and went through the proper channels with filling out the correct paperwork and drafting a charter, we could have been recognized as a club or even an ensemble. We could have set ourselves up as a musical arts club like the orchestra club or jazz ensemble. But the way that Kokoro was dragging us back and forth in practically every direction leading up to now, it was anyone’s guess what our group set out to do when we got established. “A brigade is fine. What matters is the Hello Happy World part anyway!”

Miraculously, Kanon managed to suppress what would naturally come out as a  _ Fuee _ . Hagumi was agreeable with anything Kokoro threw at her. It was clear that nobody was going to listen to me anyways. And so, the name of our organization and our band came to be, and it was named Hello, Happy World!, much to the excitement of the two jolly idiots celebrating as if they were christening a ship. Oh god, a ship. One step at a time, Kokoro.

Please, for everyone’s sake.

Once Kokoro had announced our club name by official decree, our meeting was adjourned. Kanon, looking like a lost puppy as usual, slowly shuffled back and forth between her belongings and the snare set that was carried off to the side. It was a prime opportunity for me to reach out.

“So, uh, Kanon.”

“Yes? Misaki, was it?”

Kanon, who didn’t look older than me from her size alone, leaned towards me, her innocent and pure face, examining me as if she were a newborn cub.

“You don’t really have to go along with any of this. Kokoro is being Kokoro. Surely, you must’ve heard of her. She’ll do anything she wants, so don’t mind her, really.”

“It’s fine.”

She took a calm, measured breath, and gathered her things to get ready to leave.

“It’ll be fine, Misaki. I don’t mind joining.”

“But I have a bad feeling about this. I don’t want you to get into any trouble that Kokoro might cause now that she considers us part of her band.”

“Things will turn out okay, I think. Besides, you’re still here, so that also helps a lot.”

She’s right. Why am I still here anyways?

“As far as this time plane is concerned, this was an expected outcome...”

Kanon’s voice trailed off by itself again.

“What?”

“But I didn’t anticipate that Hagumi had joined too...”

“Anticipate?”

“Oh, don’t mind me, hehe.”

Kanon playfully shook her head, trying to cover for her flustered self just a few moments before. She adjusted the ribbon on her head that fastened her side-tail.

With the bravest face that she could muster, she bowed to me ceremoniously like it was the end of her tea club meeting.

“I still have a lot to learn, so I look forward to working with everyone.”

“Ah, likewise.”

“Have a nice day, Misaki~!”

She flashed a playful curtsey. asdfsdfl

Yeah, that was really cute. It was the first of many times that she made me swoon.

\---

At some point later on in the week, I talked to Kokoro again.

“About our band, we need another member, don’t you think?”

“I guess.”

“I think it would be really exciting if we were able to recruit a mysterious transfer student!”

“Yeah yeah, everything excites you, but first you need to tell me what you mean by mysterious transfer student.”

“It’s only been a few months since the start of the school year, right? Wouldn’t you think that someone who transfers to our school at this point would be considered mysterious? There’s no reason why they would show up now of all times, right?”

“Well, there are plenty of reasons. Maybe they had to move due to their parents changing jobs.”

“That would still be strange, wouldn’t it?”

“You’re the one to talk about what’s considered strange around here. You should try a bit of self-reflection before telling people what you think is strange.”

“It would be great since she’d be our guitar player!”

“You’re not listening to anything I’m saying, aren’t you!”

\---

Even though it has been a while since the last time Kokoro was involved in a public incident, it was becoming clear to the rest of the school that she was up to something strange.

“So, what weird project are you and Tsurumaki working on?”

Ichigaya, who appeared in need of distracting herself from her own strange dealings, had the nerve to ask.

“Don’t tell me the two of you are starting a band, too.”

“I guess, but you’re one to talk.” I’ve been so involved lately with everything that Kokoro was plotting that I barely even had enough time to consider what was happening on Ichigaya and Toyama’s end.

“Don’t worry about us. Kasumi here is more of a danger to herself than to anyone else at the school. But Kokoro, she could really cause some trouble, even for you.”

That I already know, Ichigaya. You don’t need to point that out. There’s no stopping her, but at the very least, I would like to make sure that Hagumi or Kanon don’t get caught up in her antics and get implicated as well. The last thing anyone needs is a suspension from school.

Sure, Kokoro has academic immunity, but unfortunately, I can’t say the same about the other members of the band.

\---

It didn’t take too long for this randomly assorted group of members to settle into the storage shed that we now called our clubroom. In practically no time at all, what was initially an empty supply room gradually filled up with odd knicknacks here and there that would normally deem suitable for everyday club activity.

But we were a music club, supposedly, which meant that one would think that a club room that was used for music club activities would contain supplies and equipment associated with said activities. That meant instruments, and aside from the snare that I could only assume was Kanon’s, we had very little else to use in order to functionally operate as a band. For all of Kokoro’s boundless energy and enthusiasm, she either had failed to acquire them, or she expectedly did not care to think that we needed them at all. I had to step in, for the sake of injecting some form of logical thought into our group.

Kokoro sat lotus style on top of an unused school desk in the corner, focusing on a blank, empty space in front of her. She was either coming up with a plan or trying to communicate with the afterlife, neither of which I wanted to confirm. 

“How about I say what everyone else is thinking, Kokoro.” I said, finally breaking the silence. “We need instruments. This is the age of the girl band, so it might not be hard at all to find a set of instruments from somewhere in this school.”

I couldn’t believe my own lips, that I was actively suggesting her to do something. I could have simply kept my mouth shut and live in peace with myself, but no. I’m a sucker for punishment, apparently.

“Instruments, eh?”

The other two girls were present in the room, as expected. Hagumi Kitazawa was also in a meditative state, reading a volume of a sports manga picked right from the shelf of our new manga library that we suddenly acquired but clearly didn’t need. And Kanon, who in her most righteous mind of minds, obediently attended the regular Hello Happy, World! meetings, on top of the ones she was already committed to.

With her hands gripping each side of the desk, Kokoro somehow swung her legs around as if she were doing a pommel horse routine and front flipped off the desk with the rest of her momentum.

“Let’s go grab some then. We can go ask the orchestra club.”

“Fine by me, just don’t do anything unethical like blackmailing them into giving you all of their equipment, okay?”

“Why would I do that? That wouldn’t be nice at all. We just have to ask nicely, and hopefully they’ll say yes!”

As much as I believe in the sincerity of your words, Kokoro, I’m very keen on your tendency to put people in uncomfortable situations that you yourself aren’t aware of. It’s like you forget that your family probably owns well over half the total wealth in the city.

I said nothing. I simply followed her, while the other two trailed me single file as we marched our own merry way towards the performing arts wing of the building. Someone in their right mind deemed the first floor as the best location for this, as it allowed everyone to get to practice without having to bring instruments up and down the stairs at school.

We stood outside the orchestra club room, of which Kokoro thankfully still remembered its location. It wasn’t too long ago that she “gracefully” stepped down from the club to allow everyone else to continue playing together, but I still feared that there was going to be some difficulty in acquiring all of this. Music played from the inside, though it was more a chaotic mishmash of different instrument sections practicing on their own. Empty instrument cases were left outside in the hallway where we waited, and I dreaded the prospect of whatever it was that Kokoro planned on doing in order to obtain a handful of them.

My fears were confirmed the moment Kokoro entered the practice room. It was more of a classroom with blankets hung from the walls to muffle the sound, but it was still the main activity room for the club. The desks were stacked up to one side with a blanket covering them up. The rest of the chairs were arranged in a semicircle surrounding a makeshift wooden platform made by the shop class for Mr. Yamazaki, the conductor and club supervisor.

“Hello! We’re from the Hello, Happy World! Light Music Club, and-”

Kokoro please, you just declared the name of the club as the Say Hello and Bring Happy Smiles to the- you know what? You can call it whatever you like.

“We would be grateful if you could lend us anything. Anything at all!”

The room stayed silent. The walls muted all ambience. Our small group stood in front of everyone and I just wanted to die right there from having to wait out this staredown between Kokoro and the club president, a tall brunette, and the first chair clarinet.

The president finally broke the monotony as she took off her glasses to clean them with her instrument cloth. Is that considered normal?

“Hold this,” she said, handing her instrument to the girl sitting next to her. She stood up and walked right up to Kokoro, the two of them immediately caught in a complete staredown. Two girls, outwardly pretty yet neither of them the textbook definition of normal.

“I’m going to pretend that you didn’t cause a stink with us before and assume that you’re here out of kindness towards the rest of your club. You want what, exactly?”

“I want instruments, any would do, really!” So casual, too. Now’s not the time for that kind of attitude, Kokoro! Please apologize for your past behaviour!

“Who’s in charge around here?” Kokoro asked.

“Isn’t it obvious? What gives you the right to just barge in here and getting what you want?” Thankfully, no teachers were present. At least the Orchestra Club president was well outside the jurisdiction of corporate pressure from the Tsurumaki conglomerate.

“Why the long face? Shouldn’t playing music be fun and exciting? I was hoping that you would be happier that I left, but that’s too bad.”

If you looked at it one way, you would think that Kokoro was egging her on. But if you knew Kokoro the way I did, you might have been able to see her logic. She wanted them to be happy, so she did what she needed to for them to be happy, even if it meant that Kokoro herself wasn’t. Somewhere in all of this, there was a way for both sides to be happy.

For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what that was. But Kokoro might.

“How about this? If we,” Kokoro gestured to all four of us, “if we can’t get you to smile after you listen to our little jam, then I’ll leave all of you alone for the rest of the school year. But if we manage to entertain you, then we can borrow whatever we want!”

For the briefest moment, you could feel something snap from inside the Orchestra Club president. She wanted nothing to do with this, but at the same time we had already taken up so much of their time. I felt like everyone wanted to leave.

Hagumi winced, as if she had picked up the mood as well.

“Kokoron, are you sure it’s okay to do this? I would feel bad if they lost the challenge and became sad because of us. I’ve had that happen before playing softball.”

“It’s okay, Hagumi! I promise, we’ll put on such a good show that they’ll be smiling from head to toe!”

“Fuee...” Kanon awkwardly surveyed the room looking for a set of drums, having realized that nobody thought to bring the snare. Nobody expected something like this to happen, outside of the obvious culprit.

“Gather around, everyone!” Kokoro bunched us all up into a huddle some distance away from the rest of the club, who remained completely silent and fixated on the incredibly weird scenario that was taking place.

“Now Hagumi, I never asked this before, but have you played an instrument before?”

“It was a long time ago, my brother taught me a bit of guitar.”

“That’s great! But there aren’t any guitars here. What I’m going to need from you is to play, um...”

Kokoro searched the room with her eyes, and fixated on the contrabass section in the far back. It was a mix of both classical and electric instrumentation: two double-bass players and an electric bass hooked up to an amplifier. Perfect.

“Aha! That one over there. Can you play bass?”

“I guess I can, since it’s like playing guitar but with thicker strings, right?”

Now’s not the time for such leaps of logic, Hagumi!

“Okay, then you do that. And Kanon-”

Kanon nodded, as she was already making her way towards the percussion section to the side of the room. I didn’t notice at first, but there was indeed a set hidden back there, as they usually are in clubs like these.

“And I’ll sing, obviously, and you, um...”

“Kokoro,” I said, “I don’t know how to play an instrument.”

“That’s no reason to not play and make people smile. Anyone can play if they just put their heart into it!”

She reached into the pocket of her uniform and shuffled her hand around in there before finally taking something out and placing it gently, yet playfully, in my hands.

It was a castinet.

“You’ve played this back in primary school, right? It shouldn’t be too hard! You just go One! Two! One! Two!”

She mimicked the action of playing a castinet, as if I wasn’t already completely humiliated at this point.

“Un-tan! Un-tan! Just like that! Okay, let’s get ready!”

Kokoro took off to the front of the classroom where the conductor would normally stand, and she grabbed the baton from off the nearby desk. Was she going to conduct the band to play? This wasn’t going to end well at all.

Meanwhile, I stood there all alone on the side of the room, and with everyone else going their separate directions to their positions, I felt caught out and exposed with a kindergartener’s instrument. Either I could stand right here for everyone to see, or move to where the others were and forever be branded as One Of Them. Out of sheer embarrassment of being put on the spot like this, my feet moved on their own, and moments later, I was standing a few feet to the right of Kokoro Tsurumaki.

“Everyone ready?” She raised the baton, gesturing towards the other two, and indirectly, towards the rest of the Orchestra Club as well. The club president scoffed in disdain, but the rest of the club, mostly acting as onlookers, now paid Kokoro every bit of attention that they would their usual conductor.

Kanon, who looked a bit spaced out sitting down at the club drum set, paid full focus as Kokoro began waving back and forth with her arms. Kanon, as if reading her mind perfectly, began a fluffy little marching beat with the snare and the bass kick.

Already plugged in and ready to go, Hagumi started plucking on her electric bass, matching Kanon’s rhythm and energy, and seemed to be doing a competent job at it. Didn’t she say that she never played before? How was she able to play out of nowhere?

Kokoro yelped in delight as she began to dance around as she waved. “La la la~!” I could only watch as the girl in front of me did her thing, much like how she did in the practice room, and downtown not too long ago. I froze.

“Come on, Misaki! Join in! Lalala!”

I shook my head in a panic. No way. Never. I’m not cut out for this. Not in a million years. I could feel all the energy flush away from my body in my attempts to get a simple rhythm going. Not like this, not in a million years!

The others though? The Orchestra Club, save for the club president, fell under Misaki’s spell of overflowing energy. The woodwinds looked at each other and nodded, bringing their instruments to their ready position. And wouldn’t you believe it, they started joining in.

“See? Now this is great! La la la-lala!”

Kokoro did a front corkscrew, her body landing right on the floor in a cross-legged sitting position with her arms still stretched out and waving along to the music. The brass in the back cheered with all the hype they could muster and they joined in too.

All that was missing from this scene was a frenzied strumming of an electric guitar. At least, that’s what I thought in my mind. Was this really happening? Was I in a dream?

At last, the song reached a jolly climax and for all of the joyful movement of our club leader, she waved to the club and they all somehow managed to end on the right note and rhythm, with Kanon splashing the cymbal with an exclamation point on yet another impromptu jam session. This time, it wasn’t just the two of them, but Hagumi too, and all of the members of the Orchestra Club except for the president.

Even the trumpet section, who had previously felt the most drama when Kokoro was there, seemed to enjoy themselves. Everyone was laughing and clamouring amongst themselves after what had just happened.

“See? Isn’t it great when music fills the room and brings smiles to everyone’s faces?” Kokoro glanced towards the president, who did not bat an eye or even played a single note during the entire ordeal. She, along with myself, were the only ones who ended up not participating in the jam.

“Come on, prez.” One of the saxophonists gently urged. “There’s gotta be something you can do!”

The rest of the club clamoured in agreement. “Yeah! Come on. Please?”

What used to be a tension-filled group due to Kokoro Tsurumaki’s involvement and membership, now gave off a relaxed atmosphere. The president frowned, though not in the kind of way that give Kokoro concern.

“...”

The entire Orchestra Club begged, as if they were children hoping to go to the amusement park because they were well-behaved.

“Oh, fine! But if Yamazaki-sensei asks, this was all Tsurumaki’s idea.”

Believe me, if your conductor were smart, they would have no objections whatsoever.

The Orchestra Club cheered as the president took Hagumi and Kokoro to the back of the room to survey some equipment. There seemed to be some spare amplifiers lying around unused, so she spent a good amount of time explaining how they were used and what instruments could be used with them.

In the meantime, one of the other woodwinds, a piccolo player with straight black hair that fell down to her lower back, approached Kanon and myself, who at this point were just standing around waiting for Kokoro to give us further instructions.

“Please don’t mind the president. She took it extra hard when Kokoro was forced to step down for the sake of the band.”

“O-Oh, yeah, that.” I responded. “Don’t worry about it. Kokoro seems to be okay with everything.”

“Kokoro was a real good sport for doing what she did. I don’t think we ever thanked her enough. She’s a weird girl, but deep down, she’s actually very sincere and sweet. I hope your club has a lot of fun with her.”

With that sentiment, the piccoloist went back to her group, joining in some lively conversation about how stressed out everyone was until our club barged in unannounced. I could only guess they were already preparing for a competition, but it didn’t feel right to eavesdrop.

Kokoro, on the other hand, was very civil and even friendly, despite having effectively commandeered instruments for her own use. She, along with Kanon and Hagumi, were directed to a number of items that the club president was most willing to part with. In all, they procured a handful of smaller amps, a bundle of old patch cords, a microphone, as well as the missing instruments for our ensemble. Hagumi carried off a bass guitar case with her, as did Kanon with an extra tom piece and a floor bass drum for her set.

On top of all of the spare electronics, I volunteered to carry off the final piece of equipment that the club was willing to lend, but it was contained inside an unlabeled, taped up box. I was curious to find out what was inside, but shook off all desire to have my questions answered.

I’d find out soon enough, anyway.

\---

And so, Hello, Happy World! had somehow procured a turntable.

Someone at the Orchestra Club figured that Kokoro would figure out how to incorporate this “instrument” into our ensemble, which left the others befuddled as to who would be operating this janky thing.

“You couldn’t possibly expect me to be the one to play this, right?”

Kokoro didn’t even have to respond to that.

“You’re a smart girl, Misaki! I’ve seen you doing your felt crafts in class. You’ll learn how to use this in no time!”

It wasn’t just a turntable. For starters, there were two of them, and not only did it come with some assortment of knobs and dials laid out in specific locations on the thing, but that thing was also connected to a bunch of other things, namely the club laptop that the faculty apparently pre-emptively awarded us, granted that we submit the proper paperwork within a reasonable timeframe.

What the faculty deemed reasonable was anyone’s guess, but the more pressing issue was, to my dismay, my sudden responsibility to learn how to use both in tandem with each other.

Hagumi Kitazawa, the strange sporty girl, and Kanon Matsubara, both tinkered around with their own instruments, which at this point had already been set up on the other side of the room. I hopelessly wished that somehow they would volunteer to pick up the responsibility of being the band DJ, but I knew that Kokoro would have none of that, no matter how much I begged.

“Ah, well, I guess I could look it up online. It shouldn’t be too difficult.”

A part of me, after acquiescing to Kokoro’s vision, was equally intrigued and excited to pick up something new. It had absolutely nothing to do with me getting used to going along with Kokoro’s schemes, but she was right. I learned how to do felt crafts after looking it up, though that was originally because my little sister asked me to make one for her.

I suppose I just can’t say no to things. I spent the evening in my room looking up tutorials, as I was mysteriously asked not to come in for work after the club meeting was over.

\---

As it turns out, learning the basics of mixing with a DJ table, but the interesting part was that the equipment had already come with a composer program that the Orchestra Club had thrown into the box along with the turntable. I did a few tutorials and actually made a short phrase using four instruments and a vocal track.

The main problem was figuring out what to compose in the first place.

I honestly couldn’t pick out a melody from Kokoro’s random humming most days, but what happened back in the Orchestra Club’s practice room was very much real. Everyone was in sync and somehow jamming off of the same key, which seemed like a complete miracle to me, for all of that to happen without prior practice. I get that improv sessions are a thing, but for Kokoro to just jump in and suddenly lead everyone, it was unforgettable, and the melody was in my head and somehow I was able to put it down onto paper. It wasn’t note-for-note the same, but I felt proud of how similar the music was in my head to what the software played back at me.

I didn’t want to set Kokoro off, but I needed to share this with someone who wouldn’t immediately think that I was a weirdo, and the only person in mind at the time was Hagumi, who happened to be the only one in the practice room the next day.

“Hagumi, so. What do you think?”

I handed my left earbud to her, and adjusted my phone’s volume while the song played on my music app. She listens to music, right?

“Oh, it’s good Mii-kun.”

I shifted my sights from my phone screen to Hagumi, who held the earbud against the wrong ear, though it didn’t seem to affect her ability to hear what was playing.

Mii-kun, huh. I didn’t peg her as someone who would have a nickname for me so quickly, given the circumstances of everything, and especially the other day when she looked very uncomfortable when it was just the two of us.

It was just the two of us again today, so I guess you could say progress was made.

“It’s really good, actually,” Hagumi bubbled. “It’s awesome! Super Awesome-possum! Did you do this yourself!?”

I was caught off-guard by Hagumi’s outburst of delight. I didn’t know what to say to her, since I wasn’t sure how to explain certain things without making it sound overly technical and boring, but the truth of it is that I had to look up some guides on the Internet to get started, so I wasn’t even 100% sure what I was saying would be accurate.

She handed my left earbud back to me, and stared right back at me with a very inquisitive demeanour. If it weren’t for the fact that there was something pretty childlike about her curiosity then and there, I probably would have backed away from her in embarrassment. She had a particular something about her temperament that I still couldn’t quite grasp, and so I just had to roll with the punches here.

“Here, Mii-kun.”

She held out a small tankobon with a thin paper jacket wrapped around the cover. It looked pretty delicate, so I carefully accepted it, trying not to ruin the condition. The book itself looked like it had been read repeatedly before, though the cover seemed new, as if it were recently acquired from a promotion.

“You should read it, I think you’ll like it!”

She didn’t even give me a chance to promise her that I’d read it, nor did I have the time to properly thank her for lending me the book, as she had quickly gotten up from the table and left without saying much else. I was going to leave soon myself for my shift at work, but I guess I was the only member left for the day. I kept a mental note to check out whatever it was that Hagumi gave me. I locked up the room right away as I headed out.

I bumped into Kokoro by the shoe lockers at the front, right before I had to leave

“So did you have fun trying out the weird DJ thing?”

Kokoro looked like she was on her way out as well. Whatever it was that she was preoccupied with after school was none of my business, and I dared not ask where she was today. She was still her chipper self, though, and I acted very casually as to not try to arouse any suspicion that I had anything to show her. Soon, but not now.

“Well, I tried looking stuff up online, but it was pretty straightforward. I should be able to use it at an amateur level soon enough.”

“Great! Can you imagine the possibilities though? Hello, Happy World! will be able to bring even more smiles to people’s faces with this!”

“I suppose so. But really, it’s just changing tracks back and forth. It’s nothing special.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. Being able to play different kinds of music is important to putting on an enjoyable show, don’t you think?”

“Probably. But everyone else in the band is more important, since they’re the ones actually playing the instruments. You could switch me with someone else entirely, and the sound will still be the same.”

“You may be right, but you’re still an important member of the club. There’s no turning back now. We still need more members.”

“Members? As in, more than one? We’d be at 6 if we added someone else besides the guitarist.”

“Don’t worry about it! I promise it’ll turn out great!”

There goes that boundless optimism again.

Even during short exchanges like this after school, Kokoro still manages to exude high spirits. Seeing how she’s still pulling a bunch of strings from behind the scenes, I can’t bear to find out what all of this is going to lead to.

\---

It seemed like an eternity since Golden Week, and while so much had already happened with Kokoro and the club, I still managed to find solitude at work. It was difficult getting used to, being in the bear suit, but dressing up as a mascot character wasn’t a bad gig at all by any stretch of the imagination. It had become my getaway from the unimaginable chaos that potentially ensued in the clubroom.

“Thanks for the hard work as always, Okusawa.”

My manager sat in his office looking through flyers for upcoming events in the shopping district, and I was on my way out to start my shift. I bowed in gratitude and headed out into the streets.

Hagumi Kitazawa stood outside the butcher shop right at the end of the block. It never occured to me that she lived right in the heart of the district itself. She didn’t look like she was working like she often did. But even more curious, Kanon Matsubaa was also there with her, and they were having a conversation that I couldn’t pick out from where I was.

I was already in the Michelle suit, which was a bit of a blessing, since I didn’t want to be found out by anyone, here of all places. And yet, I crept closer to them, as inconspicuous as a giant pink bear could be.

“Did Kokoro show up yet?”

“Beats me. I left early so I could get some snacks from shop. Here, Kanochan-senpai, have a croquette!”

She handed her a single croquette wrapped in tissue, freshly steaming despite the warm spring afternoon.

“Ehh? Oh, okay. Thanks, Hagumi.” She fiddled around and got a bit of the roll to poke out from the wrapping, and then took a hasty bite, carefully blowing at the opening.

“Isn’t it delicious? There’s more where that came from, okay? My mom and dad run the place, so it’s on the house! Have as many as you want. All you have to do is ask. If you don’t, I’ll get you one anyways!”

“Thanks?”

I snickered at Kanon’s display of grateful confusion. The markets were bustling today, so I don’t think either of them heard me from inside the suit; even if they did, I doubted they’d be able to figure out that it was me inside from just a snicker anyways.

“Yoohoo~!” Kokoro said as she appeared from around the corner. I couldn’t really her from here, but I could clearly hear her voice from quite a distance away. The other two returned her greeting.

“Is Mii-kun coming to help us today?” Hagumi asked.

“Nope! She said she had work to do.” Kokoro responded. “And besides, I already asked her to learn how to use the DJ equipment.”

“Oh, I see.”

“And besides, it doesn’t make sense to ask her for too much anyways. She’s already doing something really important for the band, so it’s up to us to pick up the slack while she’s doing her best at home!”

Both Hagumi and Kanon seemed inspired by the mention of my work ethic with the band. If only they knew I was at my job instead of doing things for the band.

The worst part is that Kokoro was right, to an extent. I was very much interested in learning how to mix, but it was more for my own curiosity than any sort of service for the band. I felt a little guilty that I wasn’t there in person, but also weird at the same time because I was practically eavesdropping on their conversation about me.

“So here’s what we’re going to do in the meantime. Take this. And this.”

Kokoro handed a stack of papers to Hagumi and Kanon, one each. There seemed to be some kind of writing printed on it.

“We’re going to spread the word around town about our band, Hello, Happy World! I made these during lunch and asked a teacher after school if I could make 200 copies.”

So this is what they were planning to do this afternoon while I was out at work. Seemed pretty innocent enough, though I had a nagging suspicion that they would randomly break out into song in some way or another. And right in the middle of the shopping district to boot.

The last time that happened, it was in front of the station, and it was just Kokoro and Kanon, but now the band had even more members, which meant that whatever ruckus they would cause would be exponentially greater than if it was just the two of them, or even Kokoro by herself for that matter.

“Okay, this should be plenty. Let’s go hand them out to everyone!”

They marched right past me, and my heart stopped beating for just a few moments there. I had been so focused on listening on what they were doing that I forgot that I had my own flyers that I needed to hand out, so I distanced myself from them as they headed down in the other direction from me.

I couldn’t just leave them alone, but I couldn’t neglect my job either. I tried to keep them within my sight as passersby began approaching me one by one to take my flyer, and then soon it was entire families with their children who were utterly entranced by Michelle.

“Mama!” one young girl exclaimed, who was probably around 5 or 6. “What a cute pink bear!”

“Yes dear, isn’t she just adorable?” The mother added.

“Hey Mrs. Bear! Pick me up and carry me! Yay!”

I didn’t carry her, but she had already decided in her mind that I was going to do it anyway. Sorry, girl. Michelle might be a bear, but the Misaki inside her just isn’t strong enough to do that while wearing a giant suit.

Another young boy, and then another, and then twins, they started gathering around me and saying a bunch of weird things that kids that age would be talking about, but I was too focused on keeping an eye on the others who were already all the way down the street. I wanted to head off in that direction too, but it just seemed that more and more people were coming from there and stopping in front of this pink bear suit.

By this point, I wasn’t even able to give any flyers away anyway, since none of the elementary school kids were interested in whatever it was I was trying to promote. The families who were with them formed a semicircle surrounding myself and the outside wall of the community office.

“Um, boys and girls~! Could you please form an orderly line so that other boys and girls can pass by safely?” This was me trying to pass Michelle off as a traffic officer, to no avail. They kept coming. No wonder this job paid so well.

“Oh? what’s going on over there?” A voice far away from me said. I could recognize that voice from the other side of town if it was loud enough.

“It looks like there’s a crowd forming around that giant bear.” Kanon said as she and the other two came into view, though I had to squint to see through the droves of people.

“That’s not just any bear. That’s Michelle!” Hagumi explained as they approached the edge of the crowd. “She’s the mascot of the shopping district. She’s super cute and everyone who lives in the area loves her!”

“Hmmm…”

Kokoro just stood there with her infinite presence, staring dead straight into my eyes, or at least, Michelle’s eyes. I couldn’t tell right then and there, but her peering made me vibrate with wave upon wave of discomfort. I should have probably run away at that point.

“Michelle!” Kokoro blurted out of nowhere. “Would you be able to hand out these posters for us?”

“Eh? What?”

She handed me her share of the stack of flyers, and I finally got the chance to see what was written on it.

At least, I thought there was going to be something written on it, but instead it was just a number of different drawings and doodles scribbled all over the place. Instruments, guitars, and then five girls in the middle of the group. I could immediately recognize four of us already, but the other girl was clearly not from our group, though she seemed taller than the rest. She had purple hair worn in a ponytail. Strange.

If this were a game of pictionary, though, my initial guess was that Kokoro was trying to advertise something about the band. The other doodles were of weird things like aliens and monsters and other make-believe characters from fantasy and science fiction. Either she was trying to recruit them into her band, or inviting them to watch a show and have fun. My gut was telling me it was the latter.

“Ooh, Michelle,” a young boy said to me as he approached, “what’s that in your hand? It looks cute! Can I have one?”

He took one of Kokoro’s flyers.

“Perfect!” Kokoro cheered. “All according to plan!”

“Yay! Michelle is the best!” Hagumi cheered. “Say, Kokoron. What if Michelle joined the band too?”

Hold on a second Hagumi! I wasn’t trying to join the band! Err, at least, Michelle wasn’t trying to anyways! I’m already in your band! I’m just trying to hand out these other flyers!

“What a great idea, Hagumi!” Kokoro bubbled. “You don’t see bands these days with bears in them!”

Kokoro! Don’t make things more complicated! Leave Michelle out of this!

I couldn’t say anything out of fear that they would find out that it was me underneath all of this, but what other option did I have? I flailed my arms about, trying not to accidentally hit any kids, but also trying to hand the flyers back to Kokoro.

“She’s waving at us, I think?” Kokoro peered at me again. “Are you trying to say that you want to join the band? Sounds good to me! You’re in. You can be our band bear!”

Oh no. Oh no. No no no. This can’t be happening. Wait, a “band bear?” What does that even mean?

\---

The name Kokoro Tsurumaki had already become a household brand throughout the school, but the next day, it had become clear that her antics in the shopping district made her a tour de force even throughout the city. It made sense, though, that she had already drawn so much attention by skydiving to school in the middle of the day.

The difference now was that she had a ragtag crew following her around, and the fact that she had claimed Michelle to herself was akin to a pirate spiriting away a giant treasure chest after exploring an island with a treasure map.

Even the suits got into it afterwards. After my shift was over, I noticed that they were in the office talking to my manager, and as it turned out, the organization responsible for promoting the shopping district was bought out by the Tsurumaki family. So not only am I in her ridiculous club, but I’m also technically working for her as well. Will I ever catch a break?

“Man, Misaki...You’ve reached the point of no return with Tsurumaki’s little circle of friends, huh?” Ichigaya said during lunch, in a dour yet sympathetic tone. “I never would have expected Tsurumaki to legitimately start a band. I guess anything can happen when it comes to her.”

“Isn’t it interesting though? Hagumi told me earlier this morning that you even recruited Michelle, the bear from the shopping district, to join your group! That’s amazing! But wait, aren’t you Michelle?”

That was Toyama. She reached into her bag and pulled out the exact same flyer that Kokoro was handing out.

“So you’re going to be in Hello, Happy World! as both Michelle and Misaki then? How is that going to work? Aren’t you going to tell the others?”

Believe me, Toyama. I have no idea. I don’t want to think about it right now. I just want to eat my sandwich in peace and not have to worry about telling them Michelle’s identity. I doubt they’ll even have the brain capacity to understand what I’d say to them.

“But what about this person here?” Ichigaya pointed to the doodle of the fifth member with the purple ponytail. “Is she also in the band?”

“How am I supposed to know what’s going on in Kokoro’s head or what she’s doing at all times?” I snapped. “I don’t even know where she is at this very moment!”

Eve suddenly wandered over to our trio of desks.

“It seemed like all of you were having fun together, no? Isn’t that what bushido is supposed to be about? Because being part of a group like that is like being in a brotherhood where you have each other’s backs. That’s what I would call a noble heart!”

For your own sake, Eve, you should stay away. You might get sucked into the whole band craze yourself.

\---

Amidst all this speculation about the final member of Hello, Happy World!, the coveted transfer student had finally arrived.

Kokoro shared this morsel of current events the following day during the short period of time before classes started.

“Isn’t this exciting? We finally have a transfer student coming to our school!”

Kokoro was hovering over her desk like a hummingbird, vibrating back and forth in a sugar rush after drinking an entire garden’s worth of nectar.

I don’t know exactly how she got wind of the news, but other than the fact that she was just doing Kokoro things, it turned out that the girl was a grade above us, like Kanon.

“It’s now or never, Misaki. I would have preferred the transfer student to be in our grade, and even in our class, but a second-year is also fine, but also the most mysterious, don’t you think?”

“What’s so mysterious about being a second-year anyway? Have you met her yet?”

“No, but a second-year student transferring is automatically more mysterious than a first-year. Not to mention that she’s doing so during the middle of the year. It doesn’t get more mysterious than that!”

I can see how Kokoro arrived at the leaps of logic that she made, but that doesn’t mean I have to accept them. She’s still a weirdo after all.

Students have to change schools during the year for a variety of reasons, and a lot of them are due to parents having to change jobs suddenly. It’s become so commonplace that I’m surprised that it’s still considered a trope at all.

And yet, this was still one of Kokoro’s recent hangups about the band, and once she had set her eyes on the goal of recruiting this new girl to our band, there was no stopping her. She immediately bolted out the door once first period was over. She was probably somersaulting up the stairs to the second floor where Kanon and the other second-year classes were.

And just as fast as she had left, Kokoro returned just in time for the next period to start.

“So,” I had to ask, “how was she?”

“Well, she was indeed strange, but not mysterious in the way that I originally thought!”

Well, that goes without saying.

“I tried to talk to her, but I don’t know what’s going on with her yet. She was very sociable, and she was already drawing crowds towards her so I could tell she’s going to be pretty popular at the school. I’ve never seen anyone so open and outgoing before! I should ask the other senpais about her later.”

Kokoro, I leave it up to you to do all the busywork here.

But in all honesty, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of person would simply accept an invitation from a complete stranger to join their band? And not just any band, mind you. I’m talking about a band with a weirdo like Kokoro Tsurumaki in it, an athletic yet hard to read girl like Hagumi, and a precious cinnamon roll like Kanon who is so frail that she might wilt and disappear from this earth forever and thus must be protected at all costs. She would have to also be bonkers, like a complete idiot at the same ridiculous level as the rest of the band. A person who would readily join Hello, Happy World!, well, they would definitely be mysterious themselves.

The more I thought about it, the more likely it was that this person was going to be cryptid levels of weird, huh. At this point, it was only an inevitability. The relentless tide that was Kokoro Tsurumaki and her band, Hello, Happy World!, there was no stopping either of them. She already claimed me and I was just an innocent bystander in all of this. And for the next three years or whatever, this was going to be both my life and the life of whoever was going to end up joining.

But I guess in Kanon’s case, and for the new girl, it would be two years. I suddenly thought about what would happen when graduation arrived, and everything it entails. I personally wanted out as soon as I finished high school, which was my only reasonable way out of this, but maybe when the other two left, there would be a chance that all of this could end much sooner.

But this is Kokoro we’re talking about. She’d make it work somehow.

\---

In spite of everything, forget what I said.

Forget what I said about accepting my fate and the fate of everyone else that would join the club. There was no predicting what was going to happen next, and had I known from the start I would have done everything in my power to prevent Kokoro from forming Hello, Happy World!

I would have simply told her to leave those things be and just live out the rest of her high school days content and happy like she always was.

Forget about the notion of aliens, time travellers, and espers. Just read about them in magazines and on the Internet instead. There’s so much information out there on the deep web, and with Kokoro’s family and their seemingly infinite resources, there was enough to find out about the world if she just used her connections. She probably could figure out how to get into Area 51 if she wanted to. But forget all about that, she could have just been an ordinary high school girl.

If only I had said something, anything.

The very concept of me being in a bear suit and becoming Michelle. Had I been able to clearly draw the line between Misaki and Michelle, maybe things would have turned out differently.

The bear costume. The black suits. The poster with the girl in the purple ponytail. The fascination with the supernatural. You can probably see where all of this is going, right?

There’s just so much to reveal right now, but for starters, let’s go with the moment when the transfer student was introduced to us in the practice room.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final member of the band joins. Hagumi reveals a big secret to Misaki. They take some pictures.

Kanon Matsubara, the most recent recruit into Kokoro Tsurumaki’s little orchestra of smiles, appeared to be a little tired after handing out promotional flyers a few days prior.

To be honest, I ended up doing most of the work that day, all while wearing the bear suit. That said, just the act of being around Kokoro for an extended period of time would drain just about anybody.

The club itself seemed to be coming along well, all things considered. Not only did I learn a number of new tricks and shortcuts with the composition software that the Orchestra Club gave us, but I also learned how to import those tracks to the mixing software that was meant to be used with the DJ equipment. I was on my way to becoming a bonafide disc jockey.

Hagumi Kitazawa practiced pitching outside, providing a background ambience of repeated thuds against the wall as Kanon and I made pleasant conversation over a game of Uno.

“Kokoro-san seems to be running late,” Kanon sputtered as she stared with intent at the cards in her hand.

Her expression was reserved, yet determined. Despite an outward appearance that would suggest a vulnerability that needed to be protected, she clearly made an effort to push forward. It was a trait that I have quickly come to admire about her.

“A new student recently transferred to Hanasakigawa today. She probably went off to recruit her.”

“Recruit…?” Kanon pondered my choice of words.

“The new girl is rumored to be a second year, a senpai like you. Kokoro was elated. She’s bent on making her the new guitarist for Hello, Happy World!.”

Skip a turn. Draw 4.

“A second year, hmm…”

“I was wondering if you knew anything about it, since she’s in your grade and all. Maybe she was in your class, but it doesn’t seem to be the case, huh.”

“If she was, she hasn’t been introduced yet. In either case, I can’t say I’m not a little bit worried.”

Worried? Like when she said she’d join the band? She seemed to be hinting at something.

“Is this about Kokoro and Hello, Happy World!?”

She gently placed down her cards for her turn. Draw 8. Her soft, elegant fingers laid down two of her last three cards. Uno.

“Oh… it’s not important.”

The sudden silence in the room was interrupted by the shrieking of the door’s rusty rollers as it slid open to reveal Hagumi. Her exhausted expression also belied the same amount of gusto and drive that Kanon was showing earlier.

“...”

Hagumi’s sharp stare was like that of a cat hyper-focused at a random spot on the wall, as if someone was shining a laser pen close to the corner underneath the ceiling. She simultaneously looked spent and ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.

“Do you know how to play Uno, Hagumi? Would you like to play?”

My offer for her to join us was met with reluctant agreement, which once again seemed off for some reason. She, too, was with the others the other day when we handed out flyers, and she was in such high spirits, but now she seemed to be on the verge of emotional collapse, and so I tried to lighten the mood by inviting her to sit in my seat.

Hagumi picked up what was formerly my cards and scanned each one. From what I remember, I had a number of cards that changed directions as well as a bunch of wild cards, but none of that would matter if she didn’t know how to use them.

“Hagumi, is this your first time playing Uno?”

She tilted her head in confusion.

“Do you know how to play?”

“Nope.”

“So basically, it’s a card game where you’re trying to get rid of all your cards, so you take turns with other players putting down cards. They have to be the same number or colour as the one that was placed down before. See?”

“Hmm… Okay.”

Hagumi riffled through the cards in her hand, which were about fifteen or so in total. She shuffled them and re-ordered them in the blink of an eye as if she had been hustling fools in blackjack or poker for all her life. But it was her first time playing Uno.

She played three change orders in a row, and Kanon couldn’t respond so she drew a card, this time her fingers trembling more noticeably than before. Unlike when she was versus me, Kanon was now hesitant in her approach and in the way she was looking at Hagumi. She wasn’t even looking at her own hand at this point.

Was I seeing things? The two of them were getting along pretty well at the shopping district the other day. I couldn’t figure out what was off with either of them.

The match inevitably turned in Hagumi’s favour and she snuck out a victory with a set of four wild cards that she had since the beginning of the game back when I was playing that hand instead. It was just in time, too, since we received an expected visitor.

“Heya! We’re finally back!”

Only someone as daring as Kokoro would valiantly announce her return like that, especially with another girl in tow.

“Say hello to our new guitarist! She recently transferred in from Haneoka Girls’ High School. Her name is…”

She trailed off in suspenseful fashion as she began to do a drumroll on her hips with her hands, and then as she reached a spirited climax she did tiny hop in the air and then gestured towards the new girl as she landed.

“Kaoru Seta. It’s my utmost pleasure to meet each and every one of you.”

A tall, slender beauty with such mysterious eyes. They peered with such conviction yet hid an unknown personality and backstory, both of which could easily been built up as romantically tragic. She was handsome enough that if she didn’t do so much as utter a single word and simply let her charisma ooze from every pore of her glistening skin, she would captivate even the most hardened of souls. It was a given that she was going to quickly become the new school idol in a school that already had a few, Eve included.

“Kaoru, this group of wonderful friends is called the Hello, Happy World! Brigade, but you can just call us Hello, Happy World! I’m the lead singer and frontwoman, Kokoro Tsurumaki. Those three are the drummer, bassist, and support staff. Which makes you the guitarist. I look forward to everyone getting along!”

If you were going to introduce us by our role in the band, then why even bother introducing us as a band at all? And what is this deal with support staff? Hadn’t I already earned my spot by learning how to DJ? Why am I even complaining?

“Oh! Such passionate resolve and drive to ask me to assist with your endeavours. I too have been sought out by many talent scouts back in Haneoka, but for you, my princess… Fufu, I’m willing to make an acception.”

The transfer student, Kaoru Seta, said all of this with complete composure and dramatic flair.

“Your noble quest to bring smiles to everyone in the world, surely you cannot accomplish this feat alone. I shall be your prince. I will join your band.”

If you put any person on the face of this earth in the exact situation that Kaoru had been placed in, every single one of them would immediately run away, especially if it was from Kokoro. And yet, between the two of them there was this sheer force of will, from which neither would back down. Bringing smiles to the world? Just how dense do you have to be to not overlook how ridiculous that sounds? For a surefire celebrity like her to join the likes of us, surely her appeal would plummet to the depths of Dante’s nine hells.

“Perfect! Now that I’ve assembled everyone together, it’s time for me to reveal my grand scheme with Hello, Happy World!, which is…”

Kokoro paused for dramatic effect, matching the sheer charisma of the girl she just recruited. Whatever was to come out of her mouth would be met with nothing but tired indifference from my end. Get it over with, Kokoro. Put me out of my misery.

“To attract aliens, time travellers, and espers to our band by playing fun shows for them!”

\---

She did it. The madwoman did it. I could feel my soul just leaving my body right now.

Or not. I was fully expecting a finishing blow, but I suppose even figuratively speaking, what Kokoro said was 100% expected from Kokoro, but that doesn’t mean that it’s something that one could just casually say and have people think they’re anywhere close to a normal human being! And yet…

Take Kanon for example. She was the most terrified by all of this, and the only one to verbally react, which amounted to a dragged out _ fuee _ that made her lose balance despite sitting down. Hagumi, who was once completely drained of all energy was suddenly electrified by Kokoro’s declaration and for whatever reason, had all of her usual pep back in her step. She was ready to just explode with happiness, I couldn’t explain any of it.

And then there was Kaoru Seta. She was dramatically taken aback, as if she had received a tragic revelation like that from a Shakespearean play. After shifting her gaze from Kokoro to Kanon, and then finally to Hagumi, she nodded solemnly, followed by what would become her trademark catchphrase.

“For all of us to gather for the first time, in a most unassuming room such as this, it could only be the work of fate. Ah! How fleeting!”

She reveled in her own fabricated anguish.

Are you really okay with all of this Kaoru? This is not a thespian tragedy, you know! Did you hear a single thing that Kokoro said?

As I stood there, jaw ajar, she walked over and extended her hand towards me, holding mine in hers.

“My name is Kaoru. Seeing that I am new to this school, I leave everything in your lovingly capable hands. I hope you’ll show me the ropes, my kitten.”

She gently pecked at my knuckle as if I was a virtuous maiden.

“Uh, well, I’m-” I blushed. Dammit!

“That girl’s name is Misaki.”

Kokoro interrupted Kaoru’s melodramatic moment (one of many), and moved on. “The cute one over there is Hagumi, and the brave little penguin sitting across from her is Kanon.” She smiled, genuine, as if she paid no heed to Kaoru flat-out hitting on me.

_ Fuee… _

There was a pitchy squeal. Of course it came from Kanon, who once again briefly lost her balance while sitting down in her own chair and had to grab the table in order to not completely fall to the floor.

“Kanon!”

Several Uno cards were swept off the table as Kanon failed to grab onto anything surrounding her. She could have hurt herself, but she was somehow saved by the fast reflexes of Kaoru, who now appeared in Kanon’s place, holding her in her arms like a dainty princess needing to be rescued. _ Meh _. I could have done that. You don’t need to show off, you know.

“Fuee…_ thankyouverymuch _.” Kanon’s words were in a hurry to escape her mouth as if they were prisoners at Alcatraz. She looked up at Kaoru, still with a bit of dazzle in her eyes.

“Wonderful! That makes us a full 5 members from the school so we can now officially form this club! Michelle makes us 6, but I don’t think she goes to this school… wait, do bears go to school?”

Do bears go to school? Really?

Scratch that. There are so many things wrong here. Shouldn’t you have better sense that there’s someone underneath that bear costume? And that she does go to this school? And that person is me?

Hmm… Do I really want to complicate matters here by telling her that I’m Michelle?

\---

Kokoro decided to steal Kaoru away so that she can give her a tour of the school. I imagine that Kaoru had already been given the tour by one of the faculty, but since this is Kokoro we’re talking about, she’ll probably show her places that even the other teachers don’t have full security clearance for.

Coincidentally, Kanon also excused herself from the room, mentioning something about having coffee with a friend from class. And so it was just Hagumi and myself that remained in the clubroom, which was a good opportunity as any for me to see myself out.

“See you tomorrow, Hagumi.”

“Say, did you read the book that I gave you?”

The tankobon? She gave it to me so offhandedly, I didn’t think much of it at the time.

“The small one? I thought it was a regular book.”

She shook her head.

“Did you read it, Mii-kun?”

“No, I guess not. Do you want me to give it back?”

“No!”

Hagumi… almost sounded like she had snapped for a moment there, but it was more like she was holding back something.

“Please read it, okay?”

She really wanted me to read that book. She did the sad puppy dog eyes straight out of Kanon’s playbook.

“As soon as you can. When you get home!”

I’ve never seen her so insistent on something like this before. I initially thought she was the kind to just go with the flow with everything, and it made her really approachable, but it was actually very difficult to talk to her.

Maybe if I read the book she gave to me, we’d have something to talk about.

“I promise.”

As soon as Hagumi looked like she got the response that she wanted, I excused myself and left her to her softball practice.

\---

I upped my pace walking home, but wasn’t in too much of a hurry. It was far away enough from school that walking slightly faster or slower required more of a shift of energy than what it was worth, but I made sure that Hagumi’s book was the first thing on my mind as soon as I got home. To my parents’ dismay, I skipped dinner and shut myself off in my room to read the tankobon that Hagumi gave me. I left it on my desk ever since that day. As I flipped through what inevitably was a light novel about a protagonist getting whisked away to a fantasy world, a slip of paper fell onto the desk. It was a tanzaku from a previous tanabata festival, which seemed to be used as a makeshift bookmark.

There was some scribbling on the back of it. I figured it was someone’s wish, so I initially didn’t want to read it since it was potentially private, but I couldn’t help myself.

_ 7 PM. I’ll be waiting in the park close to Yamabakery Bakery. _

It was neatly written in katakana for the most part, but there was an attempt to spell out _ Yamabuki _with kanji. The store logo is written entirely in katakana anyways so why even try to guess Yamabuki’s name? But I digress.

Hagumi gave me this book earlier in the week. Was the 7 PM meant for that night or tonight? There’s no way that Hagumi would have waited every single night for me to show up, right? Someone like her who was very bad at expressing herself up until this afternoon would expectedly go to the park each time, in hopes that I would eventually read the message somehow and then meet up with her then. Ridiculous. She could have just told me right away instead of using something so indirect. I even have a cell phone, she could have asked for my number and just texted it to me.

I looked at my lock screen again. 6:30. I _ just _ passed by the shopping district on the way home. It would be a twenty-five minute walk to get back there. I could make it on time.

There was no time to think. I changed into a hoodie and headed out.

I put Hagumi’s tanzaku in my pocket, and shuffled through the hallway and down the stairs, immediately flashing back to images of Kokoro sliding down the banister at school. If I did that right now, my parents would kill me. And it would be setting a bad example for my little brother and sister. I ran into the two of them who were playing in the foyer by the door.

“Where are you going, Misaki?”

“The park.”

“Ooh can we come?”

“No, I’m just meeting someone real quick. I can take both of you this weekend, though.”

“Yay!”

They were easy to please, and for the most part I enjoyed spoiling the heck out of them whenever I could. Seeing the smiles on their faces gave me a good idea, though I didn’t have the time for it. I’ll just have to work that out later.

What mattered most right now was Hagumi, who I could only imagine was once again waiting in the park.

\---

Regretfully, there she was.

The evening commuter rush began to die down around this time, but it still made the trek back to the park a bit tricky, and as such, I wasn’t able to arrive until a bit after 7. It was a short walk away from the bakery and the other shops, so it wasn’t very hard to miss.

Seeing how close this park was to the rest of the shopping district, there was a sense of familiarity and comfort to this place, as if it were an important hangout for anyone who grew up around here and in the neighbourhood. It came as no surprise that Hagumi, who was sitting on a bench near a pair of slides, kept to herself as she waited, perhaps having done so for the past few evenings.

She looked at home, relaxed, taking in the serenity of her surroundings. The park had a very nice mood to it, even after sunset, and after the lights would turn on. The illuminated path back to the market made this place a twilight sanctuary of sorts, and Hagumi, all by her lonesome, owned it all to herself.

I approached the bench as I tried waving to get her attention. She turned to me and smiled as she waved back.

“I finally made it, eh? Heh heh…” I wasn’t sure what else to say, since I legitimately felt bad that she got stood up for the past few evenings, even if I didn’t mean to.

“It’s okay. It’s not a big deal.”

Seeing her fall suddenly sullen filled me with even more guilt, especially having been forgiven.

“Is there something we need to talk about that we couldn’t back at school?”

Hagumi nodded.

“So you were waiting for me each and every night at 7 PM, huh.”

Hagumi nodded. “Let’s head back.”

“Where?”

“To my place.”

She led the way down the walkway where I came from, the streetlights dotting the street every 10 metres or so, as if it were a subdued hollywood runway. It was a short walk, but substantial enough to be able to take in the environment on the way back.

By the time we had arrived at the shopping district once again, there were very few folks bumbling about. Most people were home by now, enjoying the comforts of evening dinner with whichever family they had. We wandered over to the butcher shop, where the lights were still on, and the side door that led to the space behind the front display remained open, inviting all sorts of bugs and the like.

“Up this way, Mii-kun.”

A tall, well-built man somewhere in his 40s or 50s worked a giant slab of beef in the back behind the displays. Hagumi guided me towards a set of stairs tucked away in the corner that was situated such that it was clearly out of bounds for customers.

“So this is where you live, huh.”

“Yep.”

Hagumi stopped right before the stairs, as if to let me proceed first out of courtesy.

“What about the guy in the back. Was that your dad?”

“He doesn’t live here. Nobody does except me.”

Wait, so you live by yourself? I thought your parents owned the butcher shop?

“You can go first, Mii-kun.”

Alright then, I guess.

Trying not to pry any further into the state of Hagumi’s current living situation, I helped myself up the stairs, and noticed the assortment of different shoes laid about on the landing leading up to the single door upstairs.

“Go ahead, you can go inside now.”

Not to be one to go against Hagumi’s wishes anymore than I already have this past week, I neatly placed my shoes against the wall right next to the doorway and I helped myself in.

It felt like I had crossed some sort of threshold into the twilight zone. The quiet evening bustle was comfortably muted from the outside now that I sat in the main room of Hagumi’s place. It was a bit small but nothing close to the kind you see hikikomori live in. This loft was clearly meant to be for whoever owned the shop downstairs.

I helped myself to a spot right in front of a tiny kotatsu that was sized for two people at most. The only light was from a hanging fixture above the table, and it seemed to have been left on for some time.

Aside from the den, the place at least had a cozy little kitchen nearby, with a pair of rooms off to the side where the bathroom was. There weren’t any windows. It was warm.

Hagumi appeared right next to me as if materialized from nothing. She didn’t even make a sound. She invitingly gestured to the coffee table, and I sat down on the pleather couch right behind it.

She disappeared into the stairway at the entrance. There was mumbling coming from downstairs, made up of both a higher pitched girl’s voice and a lower, gruff voice, which seemed to come from the butcher, who I presumed to be her dad. The mumbling grew to loud shouts, and while I couldn’t make out what they were saying, it was clear that whatever was originally said had escalated into a heated argument.

“FINE! SEE IF I CARE!” Yelled the manlier voice.

Footsteps stomped on the stairway headed upwards, and Hagumi popped in with a neutral expression on her face, as if nothing happened at all. She held a metal tray filled with at least half a dozen croquettes and placed them on the table in front of me.

She didn’t say anything further. I didn’t know whether to help myself or ask about what was going on between her and the older man downstairs. I should have known better than to mind my own business.

“So, uh, is that your dad?” I couldn’t even control my lips as the words just escaped my mouth out of their own volition.

“He’s watching the store full-time while my mom is away.”

“Where did she go?”

“She went for a walk.”

“When will she be back?”

“I don’t know.”

I beat myself up inside for even bothering to pry. Curiosity killed the cat, or in this case, the shopping district’s pink bear mascot. I wanted to apologize for not minding my own business, but Hagumi just watched me, eyeing the croquette tray in particular.

“So what did you want to talk about?”

She shook her head, bending over towards the tray and pushing it closer towards me.

“Help yourself, Mii-kun.”

After the mess I made eavesdropping on Hagumi’s fight (or whatever that was), I hastily obliged myself to one of the croquettes. The different shadings on each of them implied there was a variety for me to choose from, but I felt too uncomfortable to ask which one was which. I grabbed a light brown-gold one and bit into it.

“Oof, hot!” I forgot to check if it was right out of the deep fryer. I kept it in my mouth, despite my deepest instincts to just let it fall out into my free hand.

“I’m sorry Mii-kun! I should have warned you they were still new.”

I raised a hand towards her as I attempted to chew. I calmly gestured the best I could while I had my mouth full. Eventually I swallowed and finished the rest of the croquette.

“You can have as many as you want.” She said, handing me a darker croquette. “This one is ham and cheese.”

It wasn’t as hot as the one before, but I still took care to make sure that I didn’t burn myself. And when I finished that one, Hagumi handed me another. And then another. I was so uncomfortable about the whole ordeal that I couldn’t say no. I ended up finishing all six. I think I’m going to skip dinner when I get back home. Whenever that is.

“Anyways, those were good, Hagumi. Now can you tell me what’s going on? What is it that you can’t just tell me when we’re still at school?”

“It’s about Kokoro Tsurumaki.”

She quickly let herself down onto the floor and tucked her legs underneath the coffee table as if it were a kotatsu. Now that I think about it, the coffee table and sofa were probably the least “japanese” pieces of furniture in the apartment, though in fairness, they were probably the only pieces at this point, seeing how plain and empty it was.

“I need to talk to you about Kokoron.”

Her lips scrunched up. It was almost like a pout. It was so cute that if it weren’t for the fact that she had urgently invited me to her home, I would have let the thought linger a little more.

“What about Tsurumaki?”

“It’s about you and Kokoron, actually.”

She fell a bit sullen, and I wasn’t exactly sure why. It was as if the very mention of Kokoro had drained her of her energy, and to be honest, I couldn’t help but identify strongly with that sentiment.

“I’m sorry if this sounds like a bunch of blah, because I’m actually not good at explaining things to people. But please, listen!”

And so Hagumi began to explain.

“Kokoro and I are not like other people.”

Well, that goes without saying, Hagu. “Isn’t that kind of obvious?”

“No, that’s not what I meant!”

Hagumi winced a bit as she began to tap the coffee table with her fingers repeatedly as if the surface was a string to be plucked on a bass guitar.

“We’re not like other people, but it’s not like we’re different because of how weird we are. It’s like this. If you tell me what a human is, then I can tell you ‘no, that’s not who I am, and that’s not who Kokoro Tsurumaki is either.’”

I blinked.

“What about, if you were a glass of milk, then I would be a glass of white water. So if you were to drink milk, you would know it’s milk, but then if you drank me you know it isn’t milk. Right? That’s what I’m like.”

“...”

“The reason why I’m here is that I look and talk like humans so I can watch what Kokoro Tsurumaki is doing and then I have to relay data back to the Overmind.”

“...What.”

“That is basically what I was made to do. I was created three years ago, and my orders were to follow Kokoro Tsurumaki closely, which was okay and something? Completely normal, yeah! But now it’s like Kablam! Not normal! And something happened because something happened to Kokoro that made her go Kablam!”

“...And what made her go ‘Kablam?’”

“It was you, Mii-kun.”

\---

“So let’s start with this Overmind.”

“Right, the Data Overmind! So it’s this huge Wowow! And it’s just there, right? It’s just whoosh whoosh somewhere in space but it’s not like humans like you. It’s not like anything. It’s like, what I said earlier about humans being a glass of milk? The Data Overmind is a picture of the milk. It’s a picture of everything I guess, so it’s more like a whiteboard?

“Anyways, So everything that ever existed has information about it, right? There are things about it that you can learn. Like, milk is white and you can drink it. That’s like, two bits of data, but of course there’s more that you can learn about milk if you look closely at it. And basically, there was a bunch of information just sparkling and twinkling across space and then they all got together and baboom! It made the Data Overmind.

“It’s just information, right? There’s a lot of data in the universe, and because the Overmind is like a giant computer of information, you can’t really call it a glass of milk like humans or other animals or things.

“But because it was always there, it kept growing because it kept squoooshing with all the other information in the universe right? And because it has so much information, it knows everything! Like, it can just, kaching! It gives you the answers to the Japanese history test next week! Oh! Or even two weeks from now, even if the teacher hasn’t even written the test yet?

“But yeah, it knows a lot of information right? It contains all the information about the entire universe and which planets had life and which planets didn’t. But there was this one, Earth. And it was special because it had a special _ kirakira dokidoki _ about it that the others didn’t. The life forms evolved and became people, like in that soft drink commercial where the frog drinks from the can and then becomes a dinosaur.

“So Earth was an interesting planet for the Overmind to study, and it was like ‘yay! More data to obtain!’ and it was like that for a very long time, but THEN!

“Then, Mii-kun! You wouldn’t believe it! The humans began to think, and they began to see and hear and smell things with their brains and then they were really smart because they could analyze data, like if you take a picture on your phone and then play with the photo with different effects, it’s kinda like that I think?”

Then Hagumi got really excited.

“The Data Overmind was like ‘Wow! We’ve never seen this before! So let’s send more data life forms to Earth so we can watch humans because they have a lot of data,’ right? And they could even talk to each other and share information in ways we never thought possible. If they kept growing and evolving, then maybe one day they might be able to do even more!

“So you know how I was talking about how humans are like a glass of milk? Sometimes if you leave milk out it goes sour and it’s really gross to drink, right? But what if someday, that milk doesn’t go sour, or what if that milk suddenly became chocolate milk? Or What if that milk drank humans instead of the opposite? I don’t know. Anything is possible.

“What I’m trying to say is that humans can do anything! And because of how they are right now, they don’t even know what they can change _ into _. That’s why the Overmind had to look after humans and watch their data.

“But then three years ago, Something INCREDIBLE happened! There was suddenly so much data! Like, if human data used to be a 10, then now they’re like a hundred million billion gajillion! We thought it was something that happened to all humans, but then we noticed all the data was coming from somewhere here in Japan. And the cause for the data going Kaboom! was Kokoro Tsurumaki.

“We don’t know how or why, but all of the information came from Kokoron, and it’s incredible because there’s so much data that even the Overmind can’t even sort through it all. It’s like if you signed up for a newsletter for the shopping district in order to enter a raffle, and then all of a sudden your mailbox has an infinite number of pages of unopened e-mail, and it’s all junk mail.

“Kokoron has the ability to create infinite pages of junk mail, but she doesn’t know how to do it or what to do with it. She doesn’t even know that she’s even doing it. But the Overmind knows.

“But what if she learned how to control all of that data? She would be able to do anything. She’d turn a glass of milk into water, or juice. If all humans were a glass of milk, she could change them all. Kokoron is the _ kirakira dokidoki _ that can make humans and all life evolve past its limits.

“So basically, she’s the most important thing in the whole universe, and that’s why the Data Overmind decided to observe Kokoron closely. However, since the Overmind isn’t able to talk, touch, or do anything other than gather information, it has to create its own glass to fill with milk. Which is me, except I’m not like other glasses, right?

“For starters, there’s only so much data and complexity that the Overmind has accumulated, but as a glass, the only milk it can be filled up with is from other glasses of milk. So basically, by being here, I’m borrowing data from everywhere. Specifically, the kind related to feelings and emotions, because it makes up a large part of human data.

“There are parts of the Data Overmind that think that the reason why Kokoron is able to explode with data is that she suddenly experiencing an emotion called happiness. It’s my responsibility to examine what it is to be happy, and to report the data back to the Overmind. Of course, humans are capable of other feelings as well, like sadness or anger, so I’m here to fill my glass with all of them.

“I looked it up on Google, whether humans have a term to describe this, and the best word that they use to communicate this idea is empathy. I’m an empath, Mii-kun. I observe feelings. I observe how others are feeling, and I transmit that data into the Overmind by making them my own. ”

I had no idea what to make out of anything Hagumi said.

“We think the reason why Kokoron is causing all of those data explosions is because of her emotions. If she gets happy, then I take that happiness and pass it along to the Overmind, who also becomes happy. Same when she’s sad or angry. And not just her, but everyone else, too. Including you, Mii-kun.”

“Wait, just one minute now, Hagumi.” I said, finally being able to process all of this _ data _.

“First of all, I don’t understand what you’re talking about. A glass of milk?”

“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to trust me on this.”

If I were to describe my feelings right now, it’d be apprehensive. Maybe a little bit of awe. I’m worried that this is all a wild dream or a prank, but I’m scared that this is the truth, and that trusting Hagumi would mean that things exist in the universe beyond my understanding, and that I’m currently on the precipice of an endless space of existence that I can’t ever know of, and it makes me...sad and alone.

I looked up at Hagumi, and she began to tear up. Is she really an empath then? Are her tears just a manifestation of my own fears and sadness? Is that why her mood has been back and forth the entire time she was with the club? Is that why she was very dour when it was just me and her? Am I really that much of a killjoy?

I could feel myself on a roller coaster spiraling into the deep abyss, and I felt scared. I couldn’t help it. But I tried to hold on, even as Hagumi began to spiral along with me.

“So you get it now, Mii-kun? When you’re sad, I’m sad. When you’re happy, I’m happy. That’s why I act the way I do when I’m around Kokoron, Kanochan-senpai, and even Kaoru-kun, even though I only met her today. Please try to understand.”

If it’s for your sake. Even if those tears were a reflection of humanity as a whole, and not your own, Hagumi, I’d never want to see you cry.

“So why am I involved then? You said it was because of me that there was a big kaboom or whatever in data when I was with Kokoro.”

“Kokoron chose you. It had to be you. Just like how Kokoron is the _ kirakira dokidoki _ to the entire universe, you are the _ kirakira dokidoki _ to her. The two of you together can change _ everything _.”

“Are you for real?”

“It’s all true!”

I examined Hagumi’s sudden change in demeanour. If she was telling the truth, then that means that her change is a reflection of me. And she looks like she has a look of curiosity in her eyes. And I hate to admit it, the thought of Kokoro and myself being the secret to the evolution of mankind and reality as we know it, well, what can I say? That’s all interesting to me.

Data Overmind? Empathy interface?

Whatever. We’re talking aliens. This is huge.

“Hagumi, why tell me all of this now? Why can’t you just tell Kokoro all of this yourself?”

“There are parts of the Data Overmind that believe that if Kokoron found out about her own abilities, there would be a catastrophic amount of data that could cause bad things to happen. We don’t want any of that to happen, so all we can do is watch her like a babysitter.”

“What if I just told her myself? What if I just passed along everything that you told me just now?”

“She would not believe you. The information does not coincide with her perception of your data as it is right now.”

Hey now, are you saying I’m too much of a grump to be taken seriously?

“I’m not the only one who was created by the Data Overmind. Others exist, though they do not specialize in detecting emotion information like me. They have their own information to track and report. Like the evolution of information transmission itself.”

“You mean...like memes?”

Hagumi paused for a brief moment.

“Yes.”

Oh my god. Why did you have to use that example, Hagumi? You were so close to me taking you anywhere remotely seriously. I couldn’t help but let out a giggle at the idea that an alien taking the form of a high school student spending all their time doing nothing but reading memes on the Internet isn’t any different from a normal high school student.

Hagumi likewise broke into a fit of her own, though at that point, I had no idea whether she understood why she and I were laughing at all.

\---

I gave my mom a flimsy excuse as to why I had suddenly left the house, but because Hagumi left me with yet another tray of croquettes to take home in a bag, all was forgiven. There was nothing left for me except a bed to collapse onto and ponder the meaning of everything.

If Hagumi was telling the truth about all the things she said, then it would mean that she was a humanoid empath data interface. In simple terms, an alien.

She was a supernatural being. She was the exact thing that Kokoro said she was looking for.

I scoffed at the idea that everything that she planned on doing with Hello, Happy World! was a success. Too successful, might I add. She wanted to meet aliens, and now there’s an alien in the band.

Only a fool would not see the irony in that. Wait, is that what irony is again? Oof. I’m tired.

The tankobon that Hagumi lent to me was still opened to the page where I last read before I found her invitation. I couldn’t help but scan through a couple more chapters before naturally passing out for the night.

Parts of me wanted to believe that Hagumi was completely bogus, that she got all of that from some paranormal romance novel that she was reading. Imagine a doe-eyed young woman falling in love with someone who understood her more than anyone else in the world, and the reason was that they were actually an alien empath who could read the woman’s emotions perfectly.

Surely that’s where she got it from. Having said that, if she were the empath, then would that make her the love interest and me the protagonist? Or was it Kokoro? I fell asleep grappling with the confusion that I brought upon myself.

\---

I didn’t have a restful sleep, and felt completely drained the next day.

To make matters worse, I was stuck with cleaning duty after school, so I couldn’t even go straight to the practice room afterwards. Once I was done with that tiring ordeal, I was faced with yet another one.

“Kokoro-chan, I really like this one.”

Today, the band was trying on costumes, and for the life of me, I dared not question the logic of picking out costumes before a single song had been written.

I looked at the arrangement of different styles of clothes laid about across the table. There were even more hanging on a trio of racks that seemed to have appeared overnight from nowhere.

“Oh, that one’s really cute, Kano-chan-senpai!”

Barely anyone noticed my late arrival, as they were fixated on Kanon’s outfit. It looked like a dress that an idol group would wear, as it had frills in the right places while at the same time, it had a sleek color palette that you could swap around between members.

“It kinda looks like the kind of dress that Chisato-san would wear.” Kanon smiled warmly.

“Oh hey, Misaki, you came! Good! Isn’t Kanon cute in this dress?”

Now of course she looked cute in the dress. She’d look cute in any dress for that matter, but the most important thing was that Kanon herself enjoyed it. For a wallflower such as her, even just the tiniest bit of confidence really made her stand out.

“Anyways, I think we should go with this one.”

And just as quickly as she had suggested one, she went with another instead, this time holding up a uniform that I could only describe as the kind that a person would wear if they were in a marching band.

The top was vest-like in appearance with gold rope fasteners in the front and black down the side. It had a cute short skirt that went down and ended in a bit of a frill, and red thigh-high boots with gold trims. Not to mention the giant hats to go along with the whole thing.

It was a very Kokoro choice.

“Hagumi, why don’t you try this one on?”

“Roger!”

Hagumi shuffled off to the corner where a portable dressing room was set up.

“That one looked more like a marching band costume, right?” Kanon said, still in her idol getup.

“Uh huh! That was exactly what I was thinking when I first saw it. We can march headstrong and bring smiles to the world that way. It’s very fitting for Hello, Happy World, right?”

In your own mind your logic is probably right, Kokoro, but you’re still thinking of things way outside what any of us could understand right now.

“Stories about orchestras and bands always have a segment where they have to practice marching, right? I don’t really get it, but you know how there’s usually someone in the front that leads the way and carries a baton? That’s the conductor. And people usually think there’s only one conductor, but that’s not necessarily true. When the parade is super long, there’s always multiples of them so that everyone can see one no matter where they’re standing. When I think about Hello, Happy World!, I think that all of us stand out in our own ways, so it’s like we’re all band conductors!”

As I gave Kokoro’s speech a few moments to sink in and marinate a little, Hagumi had finished dressing up, and she came out in the red marching band conductor’s outfit, and regardless of Kokoro’s reasoning, she still looked really cute nonetheless.

Barely a few moments had passed while I pondered the peculiarities of Hagumi’s outfit, and Kokoro had procured a digital camera, the kind that you often see professionals use, with the attached flash bulb and the big telescoping lens.

Hagumi, apparently picking up on Kokoro’s cue, headed over to the other end of the room where Kaoru had finished setting up lightly-coloured drapes against the wall, providing a nice background for pictures.

I guess this was all planned out while I was gone, huh?

“Kokoron, I’m ready to have my picture taken!”

Our little makeshift photographer set up a tripod out of nowhere right in front of our makeshift studio. The moment she started pressing the flash button repeatedly, Hagumi struck one pose after another, as if she had been a professional model all her life.

Or at least, had been getting pointers from Eve. Either works, really.

Kokoro relentlessly snapped away and while I had been distracted by this display, Kanon joined out of nowhere, wearing the same uniform.

“Oh~!” Kaoru breathlessly exclaimed. “To see two adorable little kittens bearing their adorable kitten souls like this! So fleeting!”

I made my way over to a nearby chair so I could finally relax and sit back, but like clockwork, Kokoro grabbed me by the hand before I could help myself to my seat.

“And where do you think you’re going? You’re going to take pictures of all of us!”

She gestured to the tripod, and while it seemed as simple as pressing the big chrome button over and over again, there were a few other settings that I couldn’t help but look at fiddle around with. While I was in my own world figuring it out, Kokoro and Kaoru both ended up dressing up in the exact same outfits.

“I can’t help but marvel at how immaculately all of these garments fit. Truly, only a caring princess like yourself could be so considerate!” Kaoru said, leading Kokoro by hand from the room towards the other two.

“The suits brought them all here, custom-made to fit to our measurements!”

Kanon, who I could only assume did not provide her sizes to Kokoro, let out a _ Fuee~ _ in shocked embarrassment.

Ugh, my heart.

The four of them tightened together into a group pose, and while I figured out on my phone how apertures work, I finally tinkered up a setting that I liked for the lighting inside the practice room. It should turn out okay. I think.

“Kokoron, I think something is missing here.”

“You know what, you’re right! Where’s Michelle? I have a costume over here for her as well!”

Right on command, the door to the club room slid open, revealing a trio of folks dressed up in black suits and sunglasses. I had heard rumours of the infamous suits from Ichigaya, but I thought they were just rumours.

“Okusawa-sama, right this way please.”

Forcefully, though not at all menacingly, one of the suits took me by the arm, casually leading me out of the room amidst the chaos of people showing up.

“Hey Misaki, where are you going?”

Before I even had a chance to respond to Kokoro or even get myself free from my less-than-menacing abductors, they slid the door behind me. They finally let me go and gestured me back to the school’s entranceway.

“Okusawa-sama, we have prepared the Michelle costume for you back inside the school. The young Kokoro-sama has requested that Michelle be present for the photoshoot. If you could be so kind…”

“Oh, um, okay.” I was still too caught off-guard to object.

They led me into an empty classroom nearby where, lo and behold, the pink bear outfit was hung with care, detachable headpiece in place. I couldn’t believe they had access to it, despite using it exclusively for work.

“You don’t have to worry about working downtown anymore,” they noted as they stood watch outside. “We have purchased the character rights from the shopping district’s neighbourhood association.”

The prospect of doing promo shots with the others felt like I was at my part-time job anyways. It’s not easy being Michelle.

“In any case, I’d still like to work there, okay? Don’t worry about it. I’ll figure out how to handle being in Kokoro’s band.”

“If you wish, we have prepared a catalogue of various musical arrangements for Kokoro-sama to enjoy with the band. We can even do bookings for live shows and the largest festivals taking place across Japan.”

I slid the bear head into place. I had to say it.

“N-No thanks! Please don’t make this any more serious than it needs to. I can handle everything on our end. I even have a song in mind that I’d like to use.”

What? What was I even thinking, blurting that out loud? It’s true that I have been enjoying myself whenever I sat down to make music, but I never thought that I’d be doing it for Kokoro’s sake, or the band’s for that matter.

“Very well. We shall take our leave.”

Before I got the chance to explain myself, they were gone. I half-heartedly dashed through the hallway to catch up to them, but to no avail. It was like they, and practically the rest of the student body, had suddenly vanished from school property.

“Oh boy,” I muttered to nobody, “here we go.”

If getting dragged by the hand across a 50m track by Kokoro wasn’t tiring enough, the trek towards the practice room in the middle of May while wearing a Michelle suit was, well, un-bearable.

I’m here all week, folks.

I caught my breath before letting myself into the practice room. The Michelle Show had officially begun.

“Hello, everyone! It’s me, Michelle! How is everyone doing today?”

There was barely any time for me to think this entirely through.

“Michelle!” Kokoro leapt at me, over the tripod to boot. She cleared the entire height (cleanly might I add) just to give me a big hug. “I’m so happy you’re here! We were already in the middle of our first official photoshoot!”

“Oh my. So this is _ the _ Michelle that I’ve heard so much about.”

Kaoru approached me, sizing me up and down as Kokoro continued to squeeze me (Hagumi joined thereafter).

She looked curiously at Kokoro, and then to me, gradually collapsing over herself and breaking down dramatically into a chorus of sighs.

“Ahh, what a sight to behold! Michelle, you are an adorable one indeed!”

Dammit. Not now, Kaoru. I’m busy being a bear at the moment. Save your casa nova act for when it’s me and not Michelle. Wait, scratch that!

“Misaki-chan, are you okay?” Kanon, hesitantly, was the last to join the ruckus.

I don’t remember telling her it was me underneath all this, but I guess she recognized my voice from underneath all this fluff. Thank god someone else in this group has any semblance of logic. Save me from this hell, Kanon!

“Misaki? She’s here? Where?” Kokoro let go of me, scanning the room back and forth as if she were a dog hearing the doorbell ring. “I don’t see her anywhere, do you?”

Are you kidding me? 

\---

If you’re wondering how the rest of the photoshoot went, let’s just say that getting Michelle into her band outfit was quite the ordeal. Just imagine that I, Misaki, am already wearing clothes, which is worn underneath another layer of clothes that make up the bear costume, and was soon helped into yet another set of clothes.

I must remind you that we’re still in the middle of May in Japan, so the rest can be left to your imagination. Let’s just say that I made sure that Michelle spent as little time in the practice room as possible afterwards.

Following that, somehow we still ended up having a meeting to discuss other things related to the band. The suits arrived out of nowhere once again, like ninjas, to retrieve all of the unused clothing, and since there were practically mountains of them, it took quite a bit of time for everything to finally die down before I could return to the relatively relaxed pace of… I don’t know, really.

It was more relaxing than what we were doing before, I guess!

Still in costume, I waddled along towards an empty chair at the end of the table next to Kanon.

“This is so exciting, Kokoron!” Hagumi declared. “It’s like we’re a real band now!”

“Ah, yes,” Kaoru added, dramatically gesturing to herself. “We have truly been touched by fate to be here together.”

“Okay, okay.” I said, trying to herd cats. “Let’s all sit down now and listen to Kokoro speak, okay?”

The two acquiesced. Kokoro wheeled out a whiteboard with a number of different things written on it ahead of time.

“So!” She declared. “Now that we have the entire band here today…”

She scanned the room, once and then twice.

“Um, Kokoro,” I pointed out, “Misaki is still tired from cleaning duty, so she went home~. I will pass the message on to her, okay?”

With those words, I took the shovel and began to dig my own grave.

“You don’t say.” Kokoro said, curiously. “Well, if she’s not feeling well, then she should go home, otherwise she can’t smile. Thank you for being Misaki’s friend, Michelle!”

I wasn’t lying when I said I was still tired, but I wasn’t about to make a big fuss about everything. Taking pictures was exhausting enough. If I could get through all of this in once piece, I’d be grateful.

“Anyways, the first thing I wanted to show you is this big list of things I was thinking about at school today. I thought maybe it was something that we could do as a band!”

The three of us sitting in Kokoro’s audience read the different entries on the board. “Build a Sandcastle.” “Make a crown of flowers.” “Climb a mountain and grab a shooting star.” “Smell some freshly-washed sheets. Eat sweets until I burst.”

“Until I burst?” Kaoru remarked, turning to Hagumi. She gave her a knowing look, and then the two of them suddenly burst out laughing.

“This is incredible!” The two said in perfect unison.

“Isn’t it?” Kokoro agreed. “I figured that if we did all of this as a band together, then surely we’d have a lot of fun and be full of smiles!”

Kanon, who had yet to say a word, raised her hand.

“Um, Kokoro-chan,” she suggested, “are you sure this is okay? We are a band, after all. Shouldn’t we be doing things that bands usually do? Like music?”

“Music, huh?” Kokoro pondered. “I suppose you’re right! But how do we do that anyway?”

Hagumi eagerly shot her hand up into the air. It was so fast, it almost looked like it was going to leave her body entirely. I wouldn’t be surprised, considering what she told me yesterday.

“When we played with the Orchestra Club the other day,” she said, “it was the most fun I’ve ever had playing music. We should do more of that!”

Now did you really have fun, Hagumi? Or did you just say that because it was the right thing to say given your emotional response? Scratch that. Forget it. I’m not going to confuse myself any further about it.

“It really was fun, wasn’t it? But to do that, I guess we need to write a song first. And then we can play that song in front of people at a live show like all the other bands do! That will bring a smile to people’s faces!

“And who knows? Maybe some aliens, time travellers, and espers will come visit and they’ll smile too!”

Save for the time travellers and espers part (the jury is still out about the alien part), this was the most logical and on-track that I’ve ever seen with Kokoro. Maybe the others here were pretty serious about it. I guess I had to chime in, too.

“If I could make a suggestion.”

All eyes turned to the giant bear in the room. The costume was already big enough as it is, but now everything around me felt like it was closing in.

“I, uh, I mean, _ our _ good friend Misaki, she’s already composed a song for everyone, if you’d like to give it a listen.”

Me, as Michelle, reached into my pockets, which is to say, I reached into what would’ve been Michelle’s pocket, realizing that my cell phone was inside _ my _pocket, which was inside the suit. This was going to be a big adjustment period for me.

“Hahaha, on second thought,” I stammered, “how about we get Misaki to bring it in next time when she’s here? Most of it is done, all that’s left is to write lyrics, really.”

“Ooh, amazing!” Kokoro beamed. “Then how about this then? Since it’s already close to the end of the day, we can meet up this Saturday! I know a wonderful little cafe that we can meet up at. 9AM, got it?”

\---

Trying not to get too ahead of ourselves, whatever it was that Kokoro was planning on doing with those pictures, I figured it would be best that I (Misaki) would take care of putting them to good use. I remembered how ridiculous Kokoro’s initial flyers were when she tried handing them out the first time. I might as well add a bit of a professional touch to them, since we’re already deep down this rabbit hole.

Sometime after the meeting was over, I snuck out to change out of the Michelle costume and headed back to the clubroom. Unsurprisingly, Kokoro had left the camera there, ripe for the stealing. Seriously. The girl is probably so rich that she has no real sense of property value.

I nabbed the memory card and took it home.

Looking at the pictures on my laptop while I was comfy in my own bed, I couldn’t help but be proud of how well some of the shots turned out. I took them after all, why wouldn’t I be happy with my own work? It would be a shame if these got deleted, so I uploaded them to my own personal cloud that I keep for personal projects. Like making a good-looking poster with everyone’s picture on it.

I created a separate folder for organizational purposes. I labelled it “Band Stuff.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The band goes exploring. Kanon reveals her secret. Hagumi jams out a bit.

Thanks to Kokoro’s proclamation that we meet at exactly 9AM on a Saturday, I had to push the park playdate with my brother and sister to Sunday, which was a big hassle.

I could have met in the middle and brought them along on an excursion to the train station downtown, but that would mean having to look after 5 kids instead of 3. I bit the bullet and promised my brother and sister a super special day just to make up for it.

The so-called wonderful little cafe actually turned out to be Hazawa Coffee, which was literally a few blocks away from where I worked part-time. It was one of those nice little family-run places that was a part of the community that made up the shopping district and all of that. And get this. The daughter of the family is _ also _ in a band. Kaoru mentioned that she played keyboard, and that she was a very fleeting little kitten, whatever that means.

I left my bike with the administrative clerk at the office of the neighbourhood association. Thankfully I didn’t need to park illegally, though if I did, I wondered if I’d have some sort of immunity since Kokoro literally owned everything around here. Scary. I didn’t want to think about it.

“Welcome!” the server said. “Is this the party reserved for 6? We have a table ready for you right away!”

“Thank you, my kitten. As always, you spoil me with your impeccable service.”

“Seta-senpai, please. It’s the least I could do for your wonderful year of service at our school. Anyways, enjoy!”

She led us to a cozied up station off to the side, made up of two individual tables scooched together. You could tell this was friendly, but intimate when needed. We helped ourselves to our chairs, and of note, Kokoro waited for everyone to help themselves before settling on a spot.

“That’s odd. Michelle said she’d be here. Misaki, did she tell you anything?”

The same old song and dance.

“Well, she said she had to work later today, so she couldn’t make it.”

It was a half-truth. I have places to go after this, but it was obvious to Kanon at the very least that I could make it today. Just not as Michelle.

“Ah, that’s too bad. Shall we begin?” She parked herself right at the end, with Hagumi and Kaoru sitting next to each other to her left, and myself and Kanon to her right.

Kokoro turned to me, eyeing the seating arrangement that saw Kanon between myself and her, and for the slightest microsecond that perhaps only I could have caught, a part of her voice cracked a bit as she started talking about the grand plans for today.

Kanon was dressed in a shoulderless light blue two-piece dress with just the right amount of frills to fluff her up real cute. She had a ribbon with a purple flower ornament tied around her usual side ponytail that would have been frowned upon if she wore it at school. Hikawa, the head of the student disciplinary committee would have had Kanon arrested if she could muster the power to do so. With a smile like Kanon’s, I couldn’t help but agree: that amount of cuteness was absolutely criminal.

Across from me, Kaoru wore a very sharp blouse and vest combo with pinstripe pants that just screamed suave, once again reinforcing her flawlessly beautiful aesthetic which was often ruined by any weird turn of phrase that would come out of that mouth of hers. It annoyed me that someone so gorgeous was clearly such an idiot.

Hagumi kept to herself for the most part, enjoying her cola. Her sunflower-patterned sundress was covered up with an orange zip-up hoodie, which, if it weren’t for the backpack that she brought with her and kept at the foot of the table, would have at least brought out this real neat girly tomboy look, an aesthetic paradox screaming in defiance of what it meant to be masculine or feminine. Whatever data she was observing regarding fashion was put to good use.

The five of us made a weird quintet in the corner of Hazawa Coffee, no matter which angle you looked. But we were talking, and for just a quick snapshot, we operated like an official school club.

\---

All initial thoughts and concerns considered, Kokoro came up with the following plan for the day:

We would split up into two groups and go about different duties in the city. The group of three would scour about town investigating mysterious supernatural phenomena and report to the other two if anything came up, and the remaining two members would hand out the flyers that I managed to print out at the neighbourhood association office prior to showing up at the meeting.

Seemed like a reasonable compromise between foolish and foolproof.

“To make it fair, we should draw lots!”

Kokoro reached for the toothpicks nestled in the table’s middle display and counted out five. Borrowing a red marker from Hagumi, she marked the ends of two of them and shuffled them behind her back, finally presenting them back to us with the ends hidden in her fist. One by one, we picked for our fate, and as luck would have it, both Kanon and myself were the two with the marked toothpicks, while the clown trio all drew blanks.

“I see, so these will be the groups to start off with, huh…”

For reasons I can’t explain, Kokoro narrowed her eyes curiously at the sight of Kanon trying to analyze the new situation.

“Well, I suppose it had to be this way.” Kokoro said, dejectedly. “With Michelle here it would have been an even three members each side, but you can’t have them all I guess!”

As soon as it set in that I would get to hang out with Kanon by myself, I pushed back the notion of the existence of the other three to the back of my mind. For once, I was blessed with a moment of respite for what would inevitably be a day of utter chaos. I’m in your care, Kanon-senpai!

“So what shall be our missive today?” Kaoru asked Kokoro as the two of them started getting up from the table. “Shall we implore my countless kitten followers for clues?” Hagumi lagged behind like a skulking ghost. Huh. That couldn’t be right, since Kokoro was here. Oh well, I’ve got a date with Kanon Matsubara.

“That’s a great idea, Kaoru! Just you by yourself could probably attract all kinds of attention from weird phenomenon! Try and see if one of your fans is secretly an alien or something!”

I almost spit out the tea in my mouth. Obviously Kokoro was being serious, but surely she didn’t need to look too far for that. Kanon politely smiled at my near-fumble in spite of her undisclosed discomfort. Hagumi stared at the group, finishing the rest of her cola.

“Ah, well, I suppose there is a bit of a deceiver in all of us, kittens and non-kittens alike. Very well.”

“Now you’re getting the hang of it! Let’s go!”

Leaving the bill at the table, the three of them went ahead, and I was stuck with paying, which seemed so typical seeing how rich Kokoro was.

“Good grief.”

\---

The three marched off in their merry way, with Kokoro leading the pack like the conductor that she naturally was, leaving Kanon and myself in the cafe. For all I care, I could have been fine staying here and talking, but the stack of flyers in my hand weren’t going to hand themselves out.

“Well, I guess we should get going as well?”

Kanon reached into her purse, worried about the state of the unpaid cafe bill.

“No, I mean, by all means, I should pay,” I offered.

“N-No, it’s okay! I’m okay with this. I let Chisato-chan pay for my share the other day when we were here.”

Ah, so I guess she is also seeing this Chisato? Wait, _the_ Chisato in our school, as in, Chisato Shirasagi? Isn’t she the former child actress? Isn’t she also in a band too, Pastel*Something? Is everyone in a band now? Is that barista over there in a band too? Wait, is that Eve?

What I now had was either an ice cream headache or girls band overload. The only cure was a pleasant conversation with Kanon, so we split the bill and left.

She naturally trailed behind me a little as I led the way. I wasn’t sure why it turned out like that; maybe it was because I worked here a lot and just kinda knew where the good foot traffic was. Whatever the reason may be, I felt like we needed a different approach since Michelle wasn’t around to draw the same kind of crowd.

We walked down the path past Yamabuki Bakery and towards the park, the very same one that I had crossed paths with a certain alien empath. But today was different. It was late into Spring, and what was once a path lined with fully bloomed cherry trees was now a bare scene in the daylight, devoid of any pink coloration. If Kaoru were here, she’d describe it as fleeting.

No matter how you cut it, the mood of the long walk away from the thresholds of civilization to a more private place, it made for a naturally romantic backdrop, the kind you could use for writing a scene from a shoujo or even shoujo-_ ai _comic. From a stranger’s point of view, Kanon and I could have been close friends, intimate senpai-kouhai, or a flat-out couple. But really we were just a couple of fools doing errands for the band.

“Ah, it’s so pretty here,” Kanon said, “it’s been a while since I last walked around with someone like this.”

“Oh really?”

“I think it was maybe last year, with Chisato-chan.”

“Ah, Chisato.” I wasn’t sure what to add to this. “You two seem to be pretty close with each other, huh.”

“Misaki.”

I couldn’t stand the prospect of what would come next. Just shoot me down already, Kanon. I wouldn’t mind accepting my first rejection from a girl and just being good friends with you. We’re in the same band after all, it just wouldn’t work, right? My mind was racing.

Kanon fell quiet. Usually when one was about to say something earth-shattering, this is the kind of build-up that would come before it. Just spit it out, Kanon. Is it a yes, is it a no?

I remember counting the exact number of leaves that fell from the trees in the space between me and her as she spoke.

“I have something to tell you.”

There was a brief tremble in her voice, but she held on with a courageous resolve. She was determined, like I had always known her to be.

\---

She invited me to sit down on a bench next to the cherry trees. I could literally see the other bench, just a stone’s throw away, the one where I originally had my evening rendez-vous with Hagumi barely two days prior. As I wrestled with my brush with deja vu, Kanon finally spoke.

“Misaki-chan, I am not from this era. I come from further into the future.”

\---

“I can’t tell you the date or time plane that I’m from. I wouldn’t be able to tell you even if I tried. Information about the future that can be shared with people in the past is restricted. Before I came here, I went through mental conditioning and hypnosis, the kind that subconsciously blocks me from saying anything beyond what I am allowed to say. So if I say anything weird, please keep that in mind.”

Kanon continued.

“Unlike what they show on TV and in books, time is not something that flows like a river. It’s more like an overlap of different planes of existence.”

“You lost me, Kanon.”

“Already? Fuee~ okay, how about this then? Think of it like an animated cartoon. It looks like it’s moving, but if you look more closely, it’s because it’s made up of individual frames that are shown quickly, one after the other. Time is kind of like that. Does that make a bit more sense?

“If we can describe the passage of time like a sequence of individual frames, then each instance of time is separated by a tiny gap of a distance that’s infinitely close to zero. So when one plane passes into another, it looks like everything is in animation.

“When I travel through time, it means that I’m moving between different frames of the animation, or rather, jumping from one time plane to another. Since I’m from the future, you can think of it like I went from one of the frames at the front of the animation and moving backwards to one of the frames at the bottom of the sequence.

“Because there is no continuity, even if I tried to change history in this era, it won’t change anything in the future. The changes only affect everything within the same time plane. For example, if you changed a few words in the page of a book, the rest of the book isn’t going to change except for that one page. The story is still the same, right?

“Time isn’t something that flows from one end to the other. Every moment is an instance of a sequence of time planes put together. Do you get it now?”

I didn’t. But at the very least, I wasn’t completely lost. Kanon seemed more sure of her explanation of time than Hagumi was explaining…whatever it was she explained.

All I knew was that Hagumi was an alien, and now Kanon was apparently a time traveler. Great.

Kanon twiddled the edges of her fingers.

“I traveled to this time plane for a reason.”

I shivered as a cool breeze wafted through the surrounding trees and into the open area of the park.

“Three years ago, we detected a timequake. Ah! I meant, three years before this current time. It was around the time when you and Kokoro had become middle school students. When we traveled back in time to investigate the quake, the impossible happened. We couldn’t travel any further. We tried everything, but it couldn’t work.”

Three years ago? Seems like a recurring theme at this point.

“Our theory is that there was a large time fault that appeared between the time planes. You know how I said that the distance between planes is infinitely close to zero? In this case, it would be infinity in the other direction. We originally couldn’t figure out why the fault specifically occurred in this time plane, but then we recently discovered the reason. Fuee! I meant recently as in recently in my own era.”

“I can probably guess the reason.”

Kanon nodded. It seemed like we were on the same page. Or plane. Or whatever.

“It was because of Kokoro Tsurumaki.”

Ah. There it was. Like clockwork.

“We discovered her in the middle of the time distortion. I can’t say anything further about it, because it’s classified information, so if you try to ask, I won’t be able to answer you properly. All I can say is that Kokoro-chan is responsible for preventing us from going any further in the past.”

“Huh. So Kokoro is capable of warping time, then…”

“It’s so strange, even from our end. Even though I cannot tell you any more details about how time planes can be manipulated, it is impossible for us to explain how an ordinary human can do it all by herself without knowing the information that we have. And from what we can tell, she is completely unaware that she is the one who caused the timequake in the first place. I was sent here to observe if there were any further changes to the time planes caused by Kokoro… I guess you could say that I’m keeping an eye on her.”

I said absolutely nothing. Everything was just happening all at once.

“I understand if you don’t believe this, but I had to tell you as part of my mission.”

“No, I get the feeling that this is all too real. But why me?”

“Because you’re the one who Kokoro has chosen.”

She leaned in towards me.

“The reasons why are considered classified information, but all I can say is that you are an important person to Kokoro Tsurumaki, and all of her actions and decisions revolve around you.”

“And what about Hagumi and Kaoru?”

“Those two are people who have similar goals as me. I can’t say any further. But it’s a complete miracle that Kokoro was able to gather all of us and make us part of the same club.”

“Just what are they, exactly?”

“Classified information.”

“What happens if Kokoro finds out about all of this?”

“Ah, that’s classified too.”

“Since you’re from the future, then you know what’s going to happen, right?”

“Fuee…”

Classified information. I sighed.

“I’m sorry that I can’t say anything else. I have very limited authority in this time plane.” Kanon’s face turned gloomy, and I’d have given her a hug, had it not for her strange revelation that she was in fact a time traveler.

“You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to. It’s just that I am required to tell you all of this, even if you weren’t going to believe me.”

“Ah, it’s fine, Kanon.”

First there was Hagumi, who told me that she was a humanoid interface created by aliens, and now Kanon is a time traveler? Was this some sort of freak coincidence or practical joke that Kokoro was trying to pull on me? I wouldn’t be smiling at any of this, if Kokoro was planning to do otherwise.

I slouched forward, leaning over the front edge of the seat. Accidentally, my hand brushed up against Kanon’s. For just a brief moment of time (a single plane, maybe?), our pinkies touched, and Kanon pulled away, as if by reflex. She whimpered and looked away from me.

We both sat there, observing our surroundings for some amount of time.

I wouldn’t have been able to explain that moment in Kanon’s terms.

“Kanon.”

“Yes, Misaki-chan?”

“Can I just put all of this aside for just one moment? Forget about whether or not I believe in all of this and just continue on as normal?”

Kanon smiled. She glowed, and I could feel her radiance. It was amazing.

“That’s fine. I can act the same as always before all of this happened.”

She stood up and gave out a deep sigh of relief. She turned to me and bowed politely.

“Actually, Kanon, there is one thing.”

“Yes?”

“Are you really a year older than me?”

“That’s classified~”

She grinned impishly. I’ve never seen her so sly.

\---

Some time after our conversation in the park, Kanon and I walked around the shopping district. I pictured in my head that Kokoro and the others were off somewhere causing unimaginable amounts of chaos, and compared that to what we were doing over here. We browsed through various shops while enjoying some bread we had purchased earlier at the Yamabuki Bakery. Saya wasn’t around, so I didn’t have to worry about Kokoro finding out.

Yet, why did I feel guilty about wanting to hide it from her?

As if willed by the cosmic force of karma, my phone rang, with Kokoro on the other end of the line.

“We’ll be meeting up again at noon, by the station, over and out!”

Like I needed a reminder. Kokoro hung up immediately, as to not let me get a word in edgewise, not that there was anything for me to say about the matter.

I checked my watch, 11:50. We were already in the area, so we wouldn’t be late and rouse suspicion. Again, why does it matter?

“Was that Kokoro-chan?” Kanon asked, “what did she say?” 

“We’re going to meet up at the station. We should get going.”

I tossed half of our flyers into a nearby bin on the way there. A lump formed in my throat as worried that someone else in the band would find out.

\---

“Alright, let’s report in!”

The lunch rush had begun, as a mass of people flooded in and out of the station.

“Anything interesting happen?”

“Not really. It was average, I guess.”

“That’s too bad. Hopefully we’ll get someone interested in the band somehow! What about you, Kanon?”

Kanon shook her head.

“Why the glum face? Just have faith that we’ll run into some mysterious folks soon! I’m sure it’s going to happen.”

Kanon stayed silent. Kaoru posed bombastically, also saying nothing. Hagumi stood gloomily behind Kokoro.

“Alright,” Kokoro eventually conceded, “let’s have lunch and then draw lots for the afternoon.” 

\---

This time around, we had lunch at a nearby hamburger place. Apparently, Kokoro had chosen the exact same restaurant that Kanon worked at part time, leaving Kanon to chat with a number of her coworkers, some of whom also went to our school.

When everyone got settled in, we drew lots again.

“Ah, unmarked!” Kaoru gasped needlessly, “Is this a sign from the heavens?”

I was impressed that Kaoru could be “on” for this long. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was how she was at home, wherever or whenever that is.

“Mine is unmarked as well.”

Kanon showed me her toothpick.

“Okay! And what about you, Misaki?”

I plucked a toothpick at random from Kokoro’s grasp. It was marked.

Kokoro shifted her hands towards Hagumi, who managed to select a toothpick despite her previously dour aura.

Judging from the results, it looked like I was paired up with Hagumi, while Kokoro and the others were grouped up together.

“…”

Kokoro almost seemed to frown at her unmarked toothpick, but shook it off, steeling herself with an ambitious fervor. She turned to me and then Hagumi, whose spirits seemed to be lifted somewhat due to the burger she was currently engorging herself with.

Was she going to say anything?

“I guess we’ll meet up at the station at four. That should be enough time for you to head across the river and explore everything north of it. Hopefully someone will find something interesting!”

Hagumi inhaled the rest of her burger and made quick work of her milkshake.

\---

Kokoro’s group had already scoured the nearby area, so it made sense for the two of us to stick around and use the time to hand out flyers, since I didn’t have the opportunity to cover this area previously. Kanon weakly waved at me as she went off to trail the others, leaving me with a now pepped up Hagumi.

And so we were left to our own devices, wandering around the square outside the station.

“Is there anything you’d like to do, Hagumi?”

“Hrm…”

Hagumi took her sweet time thinking, and as she stared at me, I couldn’t help but feel that she was trying to read me. I tried to shrug off any lingering feelings of guilt from earlier this morning.

Nonetheless, she was silent.

“Ah, I think I know a place. Care to join me?”

I smiled. She smiled back. Good. It felt like, for the first time, I was getting the hang of being around Hagumi, and as long as I was able to stay in high spirits, she’d be her usual energetic self, which I genuinely enjoyed.

“Hagumi, when we talked at your place the other day…”

“Yeah?”

She smiled, as if she knew exactly what I was going to say. I could feel the relief between the two of us. This was going to be a relaxing partnership.

“Everything you said, I think I get it now. I believe you.”

“Oh, phew!” Hagumi’s face went awash in relief. “I’m so glad. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to explain everything to you, Mii-kun!”

The way my name rolled off her tongue was super-cute. I could get used to being called Mii-kun. Repeatedly, to boot.

We aimlessly drifted back and forth throughout the square, while all around us, nothing and everything was going on at the same time. I decided to take the lead, grabbing her by the hand as I darted towards the instrument shop.

“Um, I don’t know if I should say this, but…”

She held on as she followed behind.

“You actually look pretty cute in those clothes!”

Hagumi beamed at me as we hurried through the crowd. “Aww, thanks Mii-kun. Our classmates keep telling me that I look cute in our uniform, but I guess if you’re the one saying it, then it must be true!”

“Haha, I guess. Say, sorry if I’m making things uncomfortable by asking this, but are your parents ok?”

“Well, they don’t know my true nature. Their memories have been modified with relationship data so that they think that I’m their daughter. Same thing with my brother. They’ll be fine, but they’re not my actual parents.”

“Ah.”

“I did learn how to play bass from my brother, though. I was telling the truth in that way.”

“How so?”

“He knows how to play bass, so I imported his learning data into my own memory, so now I know, hehe.”

I had never heard her giggle by her own volition, it must have been from something that she had remembered. I was glad that everything seemed okay at least. I was curious just how much she knew about playing bass, so taking her to Edogawa seemed like a good idea.

Once the two of us were inside, Hagumi immediately flitted towards the bass section like a hummingbird circling around a flower.

“Do you want to try it? Maybe you can get some practice in.”

She nodded, though she didn’t seem worried about anything. I asked a nearby shop employee if we could try one of the cheaper models lying around. She handed me a slightly hefty four-stringer, which Hagumi put on by the strap and plugged in to the nearest amp that she could find.

I wasn’t sure what happened, but it felt like time had passed in an instant, listening to hagumi jam out by herself. She was, in fact, skilled, but not in the way that I had anticipated. Seeing that she was a humanoid interface, I figured that she would play absolutely perfectly, with only the most robotic precision appropriate for a band like Roselia, of whom I heard second-hand were flawless in their execution.

But Hagumi was different. There was nothing robotic about her play at all. She nodded along to the riffs that she was plucking out, sliding up and down the frets like an experienced player, but didn’t venture too wildly out of her comfort zone. She had a good rhythm and timing, but it was hardly automatic. She slipped in and out of tempo like any flawed human being inevitably would.

It was as if she were playing exactly like her brother. That was it. She had copied him exactly. All of his experience and skill and foibles. The moment I realized this, I was utterly convinced that she was an alien.

It didn’t take too long for Hagumi to draw a crowd. Everyone who shopped at a music store were most likely musicians themselves, so for them to be drawn to Hagumi like this basically meant that Hagumi was an absolute bombshell on the bass guitar. Maybe there wasn’t anything to worry about with the band. With her and Kanon playing as well as I remember them playing, then there was a chance that Hello, Happy World! would actually sound amazing. I felt an excitement welling up inside me that I didn’t know how to handle.

I left Hagumi with the crowd and darted around the store looking for DJ equipment. Any equipment, really. After asking the same employee from before, she led me to another section opposite to the entrance. A single shelf was stocked up and down with different turntables and other advanced electronics.

Good. Give me all of it. Let me feast on this!

For the first time ever, it felt like it was me feeding off of Hagumi’s energy instead of the other way around. I buried my nose in all of the different gear that the store carried, and made various notes about different sound settings that could be made possible. I absorbed as much as I could before the 4:00 deadline.

Out of necessity, I snapped myself out of my technical trance and had to convince Hagumi to drop what she was doing (not literally though!). She clung to the bass guitar that wasn’t hers, and as we drifted back towards the front of the store, the cord snapped out of the amp and dragged across the floor behind us as we went.

I had to coax the bass guitar out of Hagumi’s hands. It was intense, I’d never seen Hagumi so focused on something other than her softball practice, but it took a quick swap between a bass guitar and a brochure filled with guitars for her to let go of the expensive instrument. I thanked the employee at the register for her time, and we ducked out as fast as we could.

By the time we arrived at the station, it was barely a few minutes after 4, but everyone else was already there. Kanon looked absolutely exhausted, perhaps from running around all afternoon. Kaoru was Kaoru. And Kokoro had a look of concern on her face as she watched Hagumi devour the brochure with her eyes.

“Whatcha got there, Hagumi?”

“It’s a bunch of instruments, Kokoron!”

She stared at me, almost accusingly, then instantly turned back to Hagumi. “Well, you look like you were able to smile, so I’m glad! We definitely should start playing together soon though!”

Shouldn’t that have been our top priority though, Kokoro?

\---

By the end of the day, to nobody’s surprise whatsoever, the members of Hello, Happy World! had failed to encounter a mysterious being or were able to make contact with anyone who knew their whereabouts.

“Well, I’m suddenly tired from all that running around all day! I guess everyone else is the same, huh?”

“Kokoro-chan,” Kanon smiled weakly, “I got tired an hour and a half ago.”

“Oh, that’s too bad then. That just means that you’ll be able to go to sleep happily tonight, right?”

“Hehe, I guess so.”

Kokoro headed off on her own, and unlike earlier, when she seemed to show flashes of worry, she ended the day on a high note. Kanon was the same, despite admitting that she was tired.

“Thank you for hearing me out, Misaki-chan.” Kanon leaned in, whispering. There wasn’t anyone else around, so I wasn’t sure if it was at all necessary. She stepped back from me, then bounced away with a newfound fount of energy. Her smile was warm and perfect. They really did master the art of being cute in the future, huh?

A hand patted me on the shoulder. It was Kaoru.

“Ah, the springtime of youth, am I right? As the great bard once said, thy eternal summer shall not fade…”

She had broken whatever trance I had previously found myself in, and I could have spoken out against her, but it was petty, and I couldn’t punish Kaoru for being that way naturally.

“Worry not, my dear kitten. Soon we too shall have our own moment in the sun. Kokoro is as splendid a princess as I had imagined, but you, _ you _intrigue me to no end. Someday~!”

By that end, Kaoru exited the stage that was my life. At least for now. I was left all alone on my own. I took my time wandering across town, back to the shopping district where I had previously left my bike. As I had expected, it was still in the neighbourhood association office where I left it, except there was one noticeable difference.

Slapped onto the crossbar of my bike’s frame, there was a sticker that read, “Special License Issued: Government Access Parking per the Neighbourhood Association.” As far as special immunity is concerned, that was as close as it gets. Probably.

I sighed. Fortunately, I was able to enjoy the park with my brother and sister the following day.


End file.
